Crazy for You
by bballgirl32
Summary: James Potter knows from his father's past that he's got it easy, so he takes life in stride, playing by his own rules and having fun constantly. But when he decides to befriend a nobody, he doesn't expect that she'll help him more than he could help her.
1. Nuts in the Family Tree

**Chapter 1: Nuts in the Family Tree**

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**Author's Note: **

**So, I've just spent a long time going through and trying to clean this up, at least as far as continuity, grammar, etc. goes. There's still some slightly awkward dialogue and cliche moments, and weak (nonexistent) plot points that I didn't take the time to clean up. Given that I wrote this when I was a freshman in high school, I do think it's decent, but be prepared for a bit of ridiculousness as well. **

**Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the story. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor am I making any writing off of this story.**

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"James Sirius Potter! Fred Remus Weasley!" Rose Weasley's voice rang through the corridors as her two cousins stumbled down the corridors in James' invisibility cloak, laughing the whole way as the smell of newly exploded dung bombs filled the air.

"That's what you get for snogging a Malfoy," James yelled over his shoulder.

"You're dead for that, Potter," Scorpius Malfoy called after them, which only made the two cousins start laughing harder.

Together they ran for the Gryffindor common room. The second that they were through the portrait, they collapsed on the floor, laughing and gasping for breath.

The two of them had been innocently walking back to Gryffindor tower after their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, when they happened to run into their little cousin getting up close and personal with Scorpius Malfoy, of all people. So, taking advantage of the ever present supply of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise that resided in James's bag, they separated the two lovebirds in the most subtle, mature manner possible: dung bombs.

"That was brilliant," Fred managed to gasp. James grinned back at him. It was his famous, maniacal smile. More than several times, people had told him that he looked psychotic when he released the full force of his mad grin, which happened to take up the majority of his face. Even Fred admitted that it was a little scary at times, more so when he got his eyes into it. That only made James smile even more. The idea of other people thinking he was crazy appealed to him.

"Anything I'm involved in is brilliant," James bragged. He knew that it sounded cocky, but it _was _true. Usually if something had James Potter's mark on it, it had a very high entertainment factor. He thought about the look on Malfoy's face when the dung bombs had gone off. Yes, his work definitely was entertaining, helped even more so by his partner in crime the past six years.

"Anything _we're _involved in is brilliant," Fred corrected him, and James didn't argue. He and Fred were more or less one person, two people working as a single unit. Never had he pulled a prank without his cousin beside him, and he grudgingly admitted that his friend took after his father enough that James wouldn't have been nearly so successful without him. Fred had a knack for making up new inventions and finding the perfect time to use them. James, on the other hand, wasn't quite so meticulous.

The differences complemented each other perfectly.

As his Uncle George had told him once, watching his son and his nephew with brown eyes that were never truly happy, James and Fred were the next coming of the original Fred and George Weasley. The younger Fred was the George in the pair, the one who was slightly gentler, who thought things through just a little bit more. And James was the Fred. The one who, according to George, was always a bit more loony than himself, who acted on whims, and who didn't let anyone else dictate what he was going to do. Together, they were unstoppable.

"But this," James said, "is one of the most brilliant."

"Easily," Fred agreed.

"Did you see Malfoy's face?"

"It was perfect."

"And Rose was going barmy," James added.

"Her cheeks were red enough that I swore she was going to blow."

"But she shouldn't be mad-," James started.

"Because she's lucky we didn't castrate him," Fred finished. James shrugged his shoulders.

"That is if there was anything to cut off," he said. Then the two of them burst into laughter all over again. Well, until someone stuck their foot into James' back. He started a bit, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Who are you going to castrate?" Lily asked. James groaned.

"I refuse to believe that you know what castrating means," he complained. But it wasn't like he was surprised that she did. He knew that his sister spent the majority of her time holed up in their aunt's library. He just never expected that she was learning about things involving male reproductive organs. What did that girl read?

"I'm not stupid. You're talking about cutting off someone's testicles." Fred, who never ceased to be amazed by James' little sister, shot her a look of approval.

"How in the _hell _do you know that?" James demanded, attempting to ignore Fred.

"I'm interested to know who you wish to castrate, and why."

"Lily," he warned, trying unsuccessfully to glare at her. James had also been told many times that he shouldn't even attempt to be strict because it was really just laughable. He was very aware of how true those comments must be at that moment, when his thirteen year old sister, who was about half his size, started laughing at him.

"Has someone been feeding you U-No-Poo?" Lily asked. "Because you look awfully constipated right now." James, who was still on the floor, lunged for her legs and pulled her down with him.

"It sure sounds like someone wants me to write and tell Mum about what I overheard her thirteen year old daughter say about the ickle Teddy Lupin." He turned to Fred, who'd also happened to overhear the conversation she'd been having with Ally Wood just a couple weeks ago. "Don't you think it's weird that she thinks her cousin's husband, and a man who has been a friend of the family for his entire life, is, what did she say Fred?"

"I believe the words that she used were 'A dreamy hunk of man meat.' Oh, and she also mentioned something about hating to see a body like that wasted on Victoire ." Lily gave a little squeal.

"There was a comment about abdominal muscles in there too, wasn't there?" James wondered, while his sister's face grew redder and redder, until it nearly matched her flaming hair.

"Hmm… I believe there was," Fred said, evidently getting as much enjoyment out of this as James. "I also recall something along the lines of 'seeing him shirtless at the lake this summer was a memory she was going to treasure forever'."

"Okay, shut up," Lily pleaded. "I apologize for telling you that you looked constipated. What I really meant to say was that you're the most terrifying and ferocious person I have ever seen."

"I don't know," Fred said teasingly.

"That wasn't convincing enough, was it?" James asked him.

"No, I don't believe it was."

"Mother will be so ashamed to hear about this," he said to his sister.

"You're only thirteen, after all," Fred told her.

"And Teddy is twenty."

"That's a bit of a difference, after all."

"It's actually quite disturbing."

"Maybe Aunt Ginny will get you counseling," Fred suggested.

"So that you'll grow to pine after people your own age," James explained. He could see his sister getting ready to snap. He didn't miss that her eyes were flashing dangerously, or that her hand was already reaching into her robes for her wand.

"Would you guys just shut up?" she asked. At that moment, the portrait opened, and Rose Weasley stepped through. Fred and James were still where they'd stumbled to a stop during their laughing fit, so the extremely angry Weasley girl was almost right on top of them. James could see her looking at the three of them, her eyes landing on Lily, whose face was still quite red.

"What's going on?" she asked, automatically jumping to the conclusion that the two had been harassing James' little sister. It may have been true, but still. James was offended that she thought so lowly of him.

"Lily told James that he looked constipated when he was glaring at her," Fred said, trying to nonchalantly get his wand out. James followed his example.

"Why were you glaring at her?" Rose asked. James could see that she had already been planning on laying into them for what they'd done before, but Lily's presence had stopped her.

"Because, she wouldn't tell me where she learned what it meant to castrate something. I was trying to be a good brother, and-'

"And his sister just couldn't take him seriously."

"Why," Rose asked, horror in her eyes, "were you talking about castrating people?"

"They said that they wanted to do it to someone, but they didn't think there'd be anything to cut off," Lily told her.

"We were talking about Malfoy," Fred informed her.

"For sticking his tongue in our baby cousin's mouth," James finished. Rose was starting to turn as red as Lily.

"But Lily was eavesdropping on our conversation," James continued.

"And she then she said _testicles_."

"Which was very inappropriate for my baby sister."

"Which led to James glaring at her," Fred said.

"And then she made that comment."

"So we were teaching her a lesson about manners."

"They were blackmailing me," Lily complained to Rose.

"We were just offering to tell Ginny about Lily's crush," Fred said.

"On Teddy," James concluded. Lily and Rose both looked at each other. The pair's eyes flashed with the same unmistakable glint than any decent Weasley (or Weasley-descended) woman got when they were angry.

"We're going to get hexed, aren't we?" James asked the two witches. They nodded.

"Bat-bogey?" Fred wondered, his voice reflecting that of a person in imminent doom. Again, the witches nodded. James and Fred glanced at each other. As the usual beam of bright green light headed straight for the two cousins, they raised their wands and both said, "Protego." The spell bounced off of them, and right back at the two redheads, who shrieked in horror.

James and Fred trotted past them, both grinning. Getting the girls like that was one of the simple joys of life.

"Beautiful shield spell," James told his cousin, holding his hand out for a high five. Fred slapped it.

"It _was _spectacular, wasn't it?"

"Watch that ego," James said.

"Pot. Kettle. Calling the other black. Ring a bell?" The two of them started laughing again as they retreated to their dormitories to get much needed rest. James fell asleep with his grin still on his face, perfectly content with his life as it was.

…

On the other end of the spectrum was Sierra Scamander. Her mother was a war hero and one of Harry Potter's closest friends. Her parents held respectable careers as magizoologists, and her family was quite well off, all things considered.

Despite this (or maybe because of it), Sierra often felt like a disappointment.

She'd been born with many of her mother's odd attributes. Along with believing very strongly in the creatures her mother had taught her about, she was shy and quiet, as well as clumsy and rather unlucky. It was understandable, then, why she had no friends. If Harry or Ginny had walked into the school and saw Sierra Scamander, the probably would have done a double-take, thinking they went back in time and were looking at Luna Lovegood before they'd befriended her.

Earlier that day, Sierra had been slinking through her hallways on her way to potions when someone had pushed her, causing her to fall forward and spill all of her things across the floor. She hurried to pick them up even as other students stepped over her, glaring at her for being in the way. That was probably why she missed her transfiguration book. The transfiguration teacher, Slytherin's head of house, Professor White, hadn't listened to her explanation about the other students, and had given her a week of detention.

Along with that, James Potter and Fred Weasley had been walking through the hallways, offering sweets to any passing students. She took one, hoping that it'd make her feel better, but it had just been another prank, and she'd run back to her room with tears in her eyes and boils popping up across her face. They'd gone away in just an hour, but it still left her sitting in her bed the entire night, staring into space.

She remembered the stories that her mother had told her of her first years at the school, about how the students had treated her. But she'd made friends eventually, by her fourth year. It was Sierra's sixth, and she hadn't had any luck so far. In one year, 'Psycho Scamander', was going to be gone, and with no more friends than she'd started out with. Then she was going to have to find a job, and there'd be no friends there either.

A lone tear rolled down her face. She knew that everyone had good in them, that they didn't mean anything when they teased her. It wasn't even the teasing that she cared about. She could deal with that. It was hurtful and annoying, but it had never bothered her. The reason why she was crying, why she was so upset, was because despite all that, there wasn't even a single person who she could turn to when she needed a smile.

So while James Potter fell asleep, thinking about how perfect his life was, Sierra Scamander fell asleep as well, not even daring to dream for a single friend.

And why should have she? It had been six years and she had no one. How could she have hoped for any different?

…

Usually James and Fred would roam the school during their free hour after breakfast. They'd toss dung bombs, scare lone students, and disguise skiving snack boxes as normal candies, then laugh as their victims succumbed to the sweets' hidden effects.

But the day after the dung bombs incident with Scorpius and Rose, Fred decided to hang out with his girlfriend, leaving James to wander the corridors by himself. He never did lone pranks—it didn't feel quite right without his other half—so he settled for taking a leisurely stroll through the castle instead.

Then he heard yelling from one of the corridors.

Playing the part of hero (he blamed his father for that instinct), he jogged to where the shouting was coming from. Once he rounded the corner, he saw two girls arguing with each other at the end of the hall. He listened carefully as he dug his invisibility cloak out of his bag.

"Harry Potter was, and always has been a _fraud_. He just got lucky," a girl spit. James recognized the nasally voice as that of Michelle Zabini. He knew that she didn't have a problem with using her wand when she wanted to, so he started heading down the hall to break up the fight.

"I don't think anyone gets quite that lucky, but perhaps the wrackspurts have you confused; they're rather common this time of year." James had to hold back a groan. Luna Scamander's daughter was getting picked on yet again.

"You think you're so smart, don't you Psycho?"

"I suppose that I believe I am smarter than you, but that's because I'm in Ravenclaw-" She stopped when Zabini took out a wand and pointed at her throat. James, who'd been planning on just leading Zabini away from the confrontation, took out his wand as well.

"Densau-" Michelle started to say.

"Expelliarmus," James shouted, sending a jet of light right into the Zabini's stomach, throwing her backwards, her wand sailing through the air.

"Get out of here," James shouted to Zabini as he shrugged off his cloak and walked up behind the other girl. She quickly scooped up her wand and hurried down the hallway. When she was gone, Sierra Scamander slowly got up and turned around. Then, she saw exactly who'd saved her, eyed him cautiously, and backed away without a word of thanks.

…

"You know Psycho Scamander?" James asked Fred as they were walking through the halls later that day.

"Kinda. Her mum's close with my parents."

"Yeah. Luna spends a lot of time around my house too. But her daughter's never with her."

"I didn't even know she had a daughter until she came to Hogwarts."

"That's weird, huh? How close her mum is with our parents, but we never talk to her." Fred shrugged, obviously not thinking much of it.

"She doesn't talk to anyone, really."

"Unless she's trying to defend herself," James added, thinking of the way that she was arguing when he'd come across her and Michelle Zabini earlier that morning.

"Yeah. She gets kinda defensive about her wabberspurts or whatever."

"It's weird. If she shut her mouth, they'd stop making fun of her in the first place."

"Maybe she doesn't know that. One time she walked up to Professor Longbottom and asked if she'd seen her shoes because Nargles took them. The girl doesn't realize that there are some things people just don't do. Such as openly speak about things such as Nargles."

"She has to be dense if she thinks that Nargles are stealing her things."

"Very," Fred agreed. Then he looked at his friend. "So, why are you wondering about Scamander?"

"Zabini was mouthing off at her this morning. I got there soon enough to hear her call my dad a fake, then Sierra said that she was only saying that because wrackspurts got in her head."

"Aw, that's cute. Psycho's probably all starstruck over your dad." James rolled his eyes at that.

"Like _that's _anything new." He shrugged. "Anyway, I hit Zabini with a spell and chased her away."

"Was it a painful one?" Fred asked hopefully. James grinned at him.

"Expelliarmus."

"Just like your daddy," said Fred, giving him a high-five. "I bet she ran away crying."

"She sure got out of there quickly enough," he said with a laugh.

"And what'd Scamander do?" Fred wondered. "Confess her undying love for you?" James kicked him in the shins, causing Fred to hold up his hands questioningly. "What? I wouldn't expect anything else. You are _thee_ James Potter. Hell, if you saved me, I'd probably propose myself."

"Do you want me to tell Brooke about that little development? If you're considering proposing to a man, and your cousin at that, well…. She may want to reconsider going out with you." Now it was Fred's turn to kick James in the shin. And James, mirroring Fred's reaction, held up his hands. "What? I know that I'm irresistible, and you're damn good looking yourself, but if we're going to start something, I think that your girlfriend should know about it."

The two of them cracked up. James could feel most of the students they past looking at them like they were crazy, but that just made him laugh harder. He'd stopped caring about the way people looked at him like he was somewhat unstable a long time ago. It was just part of being half of the Weasley/Potter duo.

"So, what exactly did she do?" Fred asked James after they'd calmed down a bit. They were just stepping into the potions classroom. Professor Spector both gave them cautious looks, as she did whenever the two showed up for class. James supposed that may have something to do with the time they caused the explosion in third year. It wasn't that bad, not really. The burn marks on the floor had been easily removable, and it had taken no time for Ethan Corner to grow his eyebrows back.

"Scamander?" James asked. Fred nodded. "She ran. I'd just saved her, and I was going to ask if she was okay, but the second she caught a glimpse of my face, it was like I'd scared her or something. She was gone in a second." Fred started laughing, earning him a glare from Spector.

"You're kidding, right? You scared stinking Psycho Scamander?"

"Yeah, I think I did."

"You couldn't scare anybody if you tried. I don't believe that."

"I scared Zabini."

"Yeah, but that's because you hit her with a spell. You were being nice to Scamander, and I know how charming you can be when you're nice. Why else did you think I fell for you?" Their professor shot them another glare.

"Class hasn't started yet," James informed her, then looked back towards Fred. "Yeah, yeah. I know that _you _think I'm charming. But if I was, then why did she run?"

"Um, I don't know… Maybe because she's _crazy?" _

"I guess."

"Don't take it to heart, okay? I doubt it was anything you did."

"I'm just worried that she thought I was going to hurt her or something."

"Chill out. I think the entire school knows that you hurt no one. They could see that when you went out with that fat chick for like a week last year because you couldn't turn her down. If Scamander is scared of you, it's because she's out of touch with reality; I doubt it's anything you've done."

"What about our pranks?" James asked, dropping his voice to a whisper as Spector started class. "Maybe she thought I was going to do something like that." Fred considered that, then shrugged.

"I dunno. Possibly. She does wander into our attack zone a lot. Maybe she thought you were picking on her." The thought bugged James. Along with his uncle's sense of humor, he also had his father's desire to be seen as a good person. Even though he knew people found him overbearing, and some people did say not all of his pranks were harmless, no one thought that he ever had spiteful intent.

Sure, sometimes he didn't think about what he was doing before he did it, but he was never knowingly cruel to anyone and a part of him wondered if Psycho Scamander had taken it that way. He knew people picked on her a lot, and no doubt she would interpret a spiked piece of candy, or a telescope that hit her in the face, or something invisible whispering in her ear, as something malicious. He didn't want to be seen like that, especially not by Luna's daughter.

"I should talk to her," he whispered to Fred. His cousin turned to him and rolled his eyes.

"Saint Potter," he whispered. "The man who blackmails his sister and curses his cousin, but still can't stand to let a damsel in distress worry that he may not be Prince Charming. You would be perfect if you didn't have that tiny piece of your father in you. The Weasley part, that's amazing, but Harry just tainted it."

James slapped his arm and smiled. He knew that Fred's teasing meant he was willing to go along with whatever he decided to do about the situation.


	2. The Great Protectors

**Chapter 2: The Great Protectors**

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"So, you're talking to Psycho now, aren't you?" Fred asked him after all their classes were finished.

"And you're coming with me," James said.

"_Now? _In case you've forgotten, I have that freakishly long essay in charms—you know, the one I got assigned after blowing up Flitwick's plate at breakfast?"

"You can finish that later," said James dismissively. "Right now, I need my partner in crime. I mean, who else is supposed to help me corner her so she can't run again?" Suddenly Fred stopped complaining.

"You're going to corner her?" he asked with a blazing grin. "Good Merlin, no wonder the poor girl runs away from you. You're positively a stalker." James took a swipe at his arm, even though his cousin was right, and it was sort of stalkerish to corner someone. That didn't mean that he minded. He wanted to convince Scamander that he wasn't evil, and acting stalkerish was the easiest way.

"I don't see anything wrong with a little cat and mouse," James said innocently. "It actually sounds like fun."

"Your idea of fun is strange." .

"And that's why you love it."

"Pre-cisely." Fred tilted his head at James. "But she is in Ravenclaw, right? How do you know that we can get to her if she's in their commons room?"

"She isn't going to stay there forever," James said. "And we'll just have to take a little look-see at my father's map to find out when she leaves."

"I love that thing," Fred said. "It makes life worthwhile."

"Yeah. My dad's pretty awesome, isn't he?" James asked, leading his cousin to a little alcove in one of the hallways. The two of them sat down, and James took out the map that his father had given him.

"You know, my dad gave that to Harry first," Fred said. "So really it's him that's awesome." They'd had this conversation many times before, after Harry had first given him the thing. George had casually let it slip that Harry had gotten it from him, and since then the two have been playfully fighting over who it really belonged to, although they were together so much that it really didn't matter.

"I would argue," James said, studying the map. Sierra was in the same place he'd seen her that morning. "but I do believe that I see a Miss Scamander wandering through a second floor hallway. Shall we go?"

"We shall," Fred agree. James stuffed the map back in his bag and slung it over his shoulder, and then the two of them were off.

It wasn't their first slightly creepy stalker mission. Actually, they had some experience. They enjoyed getting certain people alone for pranks. Scorpius Malfoy, back when he'd first started school, was fun to mess with until he befriended Albus, who then explained who the two older boys that were messing with him were. After that, they'd expanded their horizons to people who reacted more entertainingly to their pranks. Mostly bullies in need of a scare, although James also remembered going through an awful lot of work to get Oliver Wood's twin girls alone in their fourth year, when the girls were seventh years.

Their intent had been to ask them to Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, it turned out that the twins _both _had very big, very scary boyfriends.

James smiled to himself as he remembered what a disaster _that_ whole situation had been.

"So, why are we doing this again?" Fred asked as James led him to the girl's location.

"Because, she ran away from me, and I don't want her to think I'm a jerk," James answered honestly.

"So it's the blow your ego took when you found out someone doesn't like the ickle James Potter?" He grinned at his friend.

"I'd say that pretty much sums it up."

"You are the strangest man I have ever met."

"Thanks," said James absently. They walked on a little further, until James recognized where they were at. He took the map out and saw that she was just right around the corner. Without a word, he showed it to Fred.

"Such wonderful, easy prey," Fred said contemplatively, staring greedily at the dot.

"Fred," he warned.

"Come on, just a little, bitty joke. It'll help break the ice." James sighed. He knew that it'd be in his best interest to argue, to insist that they just talk to her, but he couldn't resist the temptation. It was just too sweet.

"This doesn't mean I'm not apologizing," James insisted.

"Well, duh. But this will make it so much more fun. Just follow my lead." And before James could warn him against doing anything to scar the poor girl for life, he took off down the corridor, knowing how to get on the other side of Sierra.

When he saw that Fred's dot was close enough, he stepped around the corner and into the hallway where Sierra was. Her silver eyes were looking around intently, as if she were searching for something.

"Hey, Psycho," James called out. She didn't stiffen or anything like that, just slowly looked up, as if she interpreted that as her name instead of an insult. James felt his gut twist just a little bit when she did that. He knew that everyone called her Psycho, and even though he'd never do it to her face except as a joke, obviously most people didn't restrain themselves. He had to wonder if she even knew what her real name was anymore.

Fred, following James' lead, stepped out from the other end of the hallway.

"Looking for something, Scamander?" he wondered, sauntering forward like an old drunk. That was a signal that they were going to try to creep her out. James, who'd long figured out he couldn't keep a straight face, had gotten into the habit of smiling all the time so that even when he was grinning like mad, people didn't know how to interpret it.

"Just my transfiguration book," she said wistfully, not seeming to notice the ruse that both Fred and James were trying to put on. "I dropped it yesterday, and I think the nargles must have taken it." With that, even Fred had trouble keeping his shadowy mask on. James saw his lip twitch, just a bit.

"Well, next time you go looking for nargle-stolen books, maybe you ought to bring a buddy," James told her, taking an obnoxious step closer to her. She didn't seem to care.

"I would, but I don't have any," she said.

"That's fine with us," James told her, pulling out his wand. "Less witnesses." This was where their almost telepathic connection came in handy. They hadn't actually planned anything, but James knew that Fred would take it from there.

"But we'll have to share the heart," Fred added in disappointment. James shot Fred a look, worrying that threatening to eat her body parts would be too much, but then he pasted his mad grin on his face and hoped for the best. It was just too much against everything he stood for to ruin such an opportune moment.

"Do you guys want to eat me?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, as if she were trying to figure out a complex arithimancy problem. James relaxed slightly. She was crazy enough that this wasn't bothering her at all. He quit worrying her and let himself get into character.

"Oh no," James tried, taking another step forward, so that he was just inches away from her. Trying to be as stalkerish as possible, he tipped forward and inhaled, planning on acting the part of a total freak. But as the smell of vanilla and citrus filled his nose, he took another whiff, no longer just _acting _like a freak. He had to wonder if he wasn't losing it. Well, if he ever even had it in the first place. Whatever it was, the girl smelled good. "We don't _want _to eat you, but our appetites are really just too strong."

Fred stepped forward too, putting a hand on her back.

"She doesn't have much meat on her," he said. "Are you sure we shouldn't find someone else?"

"But she smells appetizing," James answered, not entirely lying. Fred took a whiff of her as well. James found himself looking to see if it had any effect on him, but he didn't seem to notice if she smelled good or not.

"She does." Fred sniffed again. "I suppose that the quality of meat is better than the quantity."

"Right you are."

"You get the liver?"

"Nah, I'll take the neck." James stepped back for the first time to gauge Sierra's reaction to the whole thing, but he had no clue what was going on in her head. She was looking between them silver eyes, but it felt more like she was looking through them rather than at them. The feeling was disconcerting, especially when paired with her placid smile and expressionless face.

"Dead or alive?" Fred wondered.

"The innards are better fresh," James commented. No reaction. The two cousins looked at each other in confusion and shook their heads. Sierra decided to use that as a moment to finally speak.

"I don't know why," she said in that same dreamy voice she'd used before, "people call me Psycho, when you two are also attending the school."

James locked eyes with Fred, and then they both turned to look at the girl. He could tell that Fred's plan was to glare at her until she became uneasy, but unfortunately, James had problems with glaring.

He started out well, but the second that Sierra turned to face him, he burst into laughter. Then, their game obviously finished, Fred joined in as well. Sierra started to leave, but James grabbed her elbow. She looked back at him with somewhat sad, but still unfocused eyes.

"Wait up," James said, gasping for air.

"We were just messing with you," explained Fred.

"You're laughing at me," she stated. The two boys shook their heads.

"We're laughing at what you said," James told her.

"Because it's actually really funny," Fred continued.

"And totally true."

"Because we're obviously a few tools short of a full shed."

"Okay?" the girl asked, somewhat confusedly. "Are there wrackspurts around?"

"Nah, we're just like that," James answered.

"Like what?" Fred wondered.

"Wrackspurts mess with your brain," he explained. "They're tiny little creatures that fly through the air."

"And they're real?"

"Yeah, my dad says they are," James said, thinking about the story his dad had told him about Luna Lovegood finding him on the train after Draco Malfoy had hidden him under an invisibility cloak. It had been because of the wrackspurts, according to his father.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. He said that they're everywhere. You can even see them if you have spectrespecs." He noticed both Fred and Sierra looking at him strangely. Fred looked skeptical. Sierra was looking at him in careful disbelief. He liked that look. It was like she was starting to realize that he wasn't crazy… when he was defending the existence of wrackspurts. Oh, thee irony.

"You think wrackspurts are real?" Sierra asked him cautiously. James shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. It kinda hard not to believe in something if you can see it."

"But no one else does," she told him.

"That's because everyone else is way too normal," Fred said, joining in the little group of believers.

"Yeah," James continued. "You have to be one of us crazy folks to be smart enough." Sierra was still looking at them funny.

"What?" Fred asked her.

"You're being nice to me."

"And?" James wondered.

"No one is nice to me."

"We would have before," James started.

"If you'd asked," finished Fred.

"And we're sorry if you didn't like our jokes," said James.

"They weren't met for you…"

"But we kinda didn't think about that…"

"until James saw you this morning…."

"and you ran away from me."

"You see, people don't run away from James…."

"so we came here to convince you not to run…."

"and we're being nice to you because you don't deserve us not to be."

"But no one is nice to me," she said, and her voice was so accepting, so unaffected, that James wanted to kick himself for not taking notice of the girl earlier, even if it hadn't been intentional on his part. Usually, he and Fred were in their own world, and even people who stood out like Sierra Scamander just sort of mixed in with all the images and colors.

"Well, we're going to start," James told her.

"You were just trying to convince me that I was your meal. That tells me that this is a joke." Fred rolled his eyes.

"Eating you was a joke…"

"But we're too good of guys to mess with your head."

"I swear."

"I truly do think that the wrackspurts have-" she started, but James cut her off.

"We have homework. I say we go to the Great Hall to do it. Psyc- Sierra, you can come with us."

"This is a trick," she said.

"If it was a trick, James would be smiling like a madman," Fred offered.

"But he is," Sierra argued.

"Nah, that's his normal look. Remember when he was threatening to eat you?" Fred asked.

"I guess so."

"That was his madman look. Right now he just appears moderately disturbed."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," James told Fred. Then he looked at Sierra. "Now come on. You're one of those Ravenclaw geniuses, so I know you can help us with our homework."

"And I kick butt at charms, so if you need any help with that, I'll be glad to assist you," Fred offered.

"Please," James said, fluttering his eyelashes and giving her his best puppy dog eyes. He was sure he probably still looked insane, but he also knew that he could be damn cute when he wanted to be. And this time, it worked.

"I suppose so," she said. "Although I would appreciate it if you would warn me before you finish your joke. I like to have time to gather my things before the laughing starts." James felt another twinge of guilt for ignoring her the last five years. No one should just not care about people tricking them, let alone grow to expect it. But it was nothing he couldn't make up for now.

"Sure thing, Scamander," Fred said.

"We'll only mess with you a little while."

"Thank you for your kindness." If that's what she thought was kind, James Potter was convinced that he'd show her was kindness truly meant. Well, as best as a person like him could.

"No problem," they answered at the same time. Then James draped his arm around her shoulders, and Fred took her waist, and together they led the Ravenclaw off to the Great Hall for some good old fashioned homework.

…

After that, James and Fred agreed that they were going to change the fortunes of the queer little blonde. If she thought that she was going to get through the rest of her time at Hogwarts in the same manner as she had her first few years, the cousins had a dramatically different plan.

They intended to become her protectors.

"Because she's in desperate need of help," Fred said after they'd decided what to do.

"In more ways than one," James told his twin with a smile.

"But she is sweet," Fred mentioned.

"And unintentionally funny," James added. Then the two of them walked off with their usual smiles on their faces, keeping an eye open for a certain damsel in distress.

Only it turned out that they didn't find the damsel they were looking for. But she was in distress. Or at least James and Fred knew she was, even if it seemed that Rose Weasley failed to realize that snogging Scorpius Malfoy was dangerous.

"Dung-bombs again?" Fred wondered as they watched the two from about ten feet away. Apparently they were into it, James figured, if they hadn't noticed he and Fred watching them.

"Nah. We're much too mature for another stunt like that," James told his cousin. Then he broke into another scary grin and started whispering into Fred's ear. The other boy's smile grew until it matched his cousin's and he nodded his head. Then, the playacting commenced.

The two of them embraced and started making rather realistic kissing noises, with Fred going so far as so raise his voice into girly sounds of pleasure. They rolled into the little alcove that the genuine lovebirds had been occupying, as though the two of them were too into their 'snog' to notice someone else already occupying the space.

"This spot's taken," Malfoy muttered, barely separating his lips from hers long enough to speak.

"You've had it long enough," James said, doing his best to disguise his voice. Then he got Fred into a corner so that they couldn't see them and bowed his head, so that black hair was all that was visible. Fred made another girly gasping noise, and Scorpius turned around in annoyance.

"I said that this spot is taken," he growled, grabbing James by the shoulder and whipping him around, revealing Fred, who was convulsing with laughter.

"I think that we deserve privacy as much as the next couple," James told him, doing everything in his power not to laugh at the look on Rose's face. Even Scorpius sputtered a few times before giving up trying to yell at him and settled for just shaking his head.

"Come on, Rosie," James said, grinning down at his glaring cousin, "even your little boy-toy is amused."

"It's creepy," she commented as seriously as she could, but she couldn't keep her lips from turning up, just a little bit.

"I always knew that something was going on between you two. Really, this was all but inevitable," Scorpius joked with a smile. They gaped at him.

"Did you just joke?" James asked.

"He even smiled," Fred commented. The two of them exchanged fist bumps.

"We knew you'd come around eventually," James said.

"Because absolutely no one can resist our charms."

"Not even a Malfoy."

"You're filthy and stupid," Scorpius said to them with a sneer. "But you've got entertainment value."

"That's all that we want, my good man," Fred informed him.

"Well, and for you to mind just exactly where you're touching our little cousin."

"James," Rose shrieked in horror.

"Bye-bye Rosie," the two called, then hustled away from the couple, grinning at their small success.

They weren't grinning for long.

"You aren't serious," James hissed under his breath when he saw Sierra Scamander getting taunted by an older Slytherin. She was watching him with dreamy eyes, not even opening her mouth to protest as the boy waved a transfiguration book in her face.

"I'll give you this book as soon as you get down on your knees and beg for it," the boy spat. James and Fred walked over casually. Fred even put an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"What's up, friend?" Fred asked him with a very dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"Psycho Scamander seems to think that I owe her this book."

"Why ever would you think that?" James asked Sierra playfully, but even he could hear the angry undertones in his voice.

"I think that it is my book," Sierra said airily. "I supposed that it was stolen by nargles, but it seems as though someone else had taken it instead."

"Well, compadre," James said, now draping his arm around the boy just like Fred. "I do believe that if the book is hers, it would be in your best interests to give it to the lovely lady."

"You think that you scare me, Potter?" the boy asked, shrugging out from under the cousins' arms. It was true, he was quite a bit bigger than James. But he was also a few light years dumber.

"I'm not sure that you have the brain cells to fear me," James told him. He prepared to punch him with a beefy fist, but he forget about Fred, who grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back. Sierra's book dropped to the floor.

"Bat-bogey?" Fred suggested.

"Densaugeo," James said instead. His cousin gave a very evil smile.

"Perfect," Fred agreed.

"I-I'm sorry," the Slytherin pleaded, trying to break out of Fred's strong grip. "There's no need to bring hexes into this." James shrugged his shoulders.

"There wasn't a need for you to go after Sierra either," he said, then he pulled out his wand. "Densaugeo."

Instantly, the boy's teeth grew down past his chin, giving him the appearance of an overweight beaver. He said something incoherent, then stomped off in the direction of the hospital wing. James bent over and grabbed Sierra's book for her.

"I do believe that this is yours," he said, handing her the dusty old transfiguration book.

"Thank you," she said in her dream-like voice.

"It truly is my pleasure," James told her. "I kinda live to send Slytherins running in fear." Fred snorted and was about to say something when Sierra beat him to it.

"I really do not think you could scare someone any better than a gulping plimply." He didn't know what a gulping plimply was, but he guessed that they weren't very scary.

"But then why were you scared the other day?" he asked her, thinking about the way she'd run off.

"Oh, but that was before I saw how sweet your eyes are," she said. "They look like emeralds, you know." He looked at the floor and blushed. With any other girl, those words would most definitely indicate flirting. With Sierra, it was kinda obvious that she thought it was just a general statement.

That didn't mean that the words still didn't have some kind of effect on him.

"Aw, doesn't that just tickle your heart, James?" Fred asked, causing his blush to deepen.

"Thanks, Sierra," he said, choosing to ignore his lesser half.

"You're very welcome, James." Something about the way she said that made him smile at her. A normal, not completely crazy smile. She _was_ really sweet.

"And what about me?" Fred wondered. "Don't I have eyes like emeralds?"

"Your eyes are brown," she said confusedly. "They're more like rocks."

"Buuuurn," James said, now beaming like crazy. His cousin shook his head at the girl standing in front of them.

"You know Ms. Scamander," Fred said, "you may just have to pay for that one."

"Oh, but James will protect me," said Sierra, so plainly that it was like his protection was just a sure thing. James felt his smile widen, because he realized that he wanted to protect the strange girl. He liked that she'd stuck him in that role so quickly.

Sure, Fred laughed at him for it, but James smiled and assured her that yes, he would protect her. And from that day on, he meant it.

…

Two days later, he and Fred were searching for Albus and Scorpius, planning to give them delicious puking pastilles cleverly covered in chocolate, when James happened to catch a glimpse of an older Ravenclaw girl shoving Sierra aside, causing her to stumble. James caught her before she fell, but her books went flying across the floor.

Sierra looked up in surprise.

"I'm sorry that I fell," she said. "I guess that the wrackspurts must be getting into her head. I don't know how else she wouldn't have seen me." He shook his head angrily, already starting to back away.

"Wait a second," he called out to her and Fred, then sprinted forward to where the girl was.

"Hey, wait up," he said. She stopped, a seductive smirk creeping over her lips when her eyes rested on him. _Wow, _he told himself. _That look is more than a little creepy._

"James," she said. "What can I do for you?" He gave her a harmless looking smile, which should have tipped her off immediately. James knew that anyone who'd known him for more than a week would have been suspicious the second that anything other than a wild smirk found its way onto his face.

"Well, uh.." he didn't know her name. "Girl," he settled on. "I just saw you run into Sierra Scamander."

"Yeah. Psycho. So?" James reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the chocolate covered candies that had been meant for his little brother.

"I just think that after that, you really deserve this." Then he handed her the candy.

"Oh, thank you," she said excitedly, popping it into her mouth without another thought.

"I wouldn't be thanking me so quickly," he told her sweetly.

"Why not?" she wondered, but her question was cut off by a flow of vomit.

"That's why not," James told her, stepping quickly aside to avoid getting any of it on his feet. He put his hand on her chin and tilted her face up so that she was looking at him. "Text time you touch her, it's going to be worse than a little bit of bile. Am I clear?" She gagged for a moment before she could answer. Spittle was clinging to her teeth. James let his smile grow as he thought of how much she looked like a dog.

"Why are you defending _her_?" she wondered.

"Why are you making it so that I have to?" he spat back. He walked away, leaving her standing there by herself.

"You okay?" he asked Sierra when he made it back to her and Fred. Fred's arm was draped over her shoulder, and he'd already seemed to be questioning her when James had walked over.

"Making her throw up wasn't very nice," she scolded, but there was a smile in her voice. James gave her his best innocent look, even letting his lower lip just out for a nice touch. That look even worked on his father most of the time.

"I did it for you," he said innocently. He could feel Fred smirking at that, and thinking about the comments that would no doubt be meeting him later, he grinned.

"Both you and Fred have been doing that very often," Sierra said airily.

"Just three times."

"But you're the first people to help me at all," she said. Again, there was no anger, no hurt in her voice. It was just a statement, something that didn't matter. But it did. To James, it mattered. And apparently it mattered to Fred as well, because James watched as his arm tightened around her shoulders.

"Well, all the people who've ignored you are gits. Including James and I," Fred told her. "You're much too sweet to be ignored. I mean, a pretty little bird like yourself? What kind of monster could possibly be mean to you?"

James stared at him in horror. Sweet? Pretty? Fred had a girlfriend. He had no right to be saying those things to Sierra.

"I think that wrackspurts have gotten into your head, Fred," Sierra said airily. "I'm none of those things."

"Oh yeah, you are," James assured her, relaxed by how easily she'd dismissed Fred's comments. She stared at them, then shrugged out from underneath Fred's arm.

"Thank you for helping me, but I'm afraid that I need to leave before the wrackspurts get into my head as well." And then she walked away. James turned to look at Fred.

"Pretty and sweet, huh?"

"I did it for you, Sierra," Fred mocked in a voice that sounded absolutely nothing like James.

The two cousins then looked at each other for a moment before shaking their heads.

"Wrackspurts," they both said at the same time before they both hurriedly resumed their quest to find Albus and Scorpius.


	3. Quidditch Tryouts

**Chapter 3: Quidditch Tryouts**

* * *

Just over a week later, James and Fred were stumbling out of their dorms with tousled hair, wearing Muggle shorts and old Weasley's Wizard Wheezes promotional t-shirts. It was almost noon, and as was their Saturday tradition, they had just rolled themselves out of bed.

"My, don't you two just look pleasant?" Lily commented as she fell into step beside them.

"It's a Saturday," James told his sister. "Saturdays are a time where looks don't matter, and the utmost comfort is essential."

"I see," she said. "But as a Quidditch Captain, I figure that they'd also be a day where you would be attending tryouts. You know, the ones that you scheduled for noon today about a week ago." The two boys froze in their tracks, then turned around and sprinted back into the portrait hole.

"I hate my stupid sister," James complained while he threw a jumper over his t-shirt.

"She's the one who saved your arse," Fred said while he ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it to do something other than stand straight up on his head.

"Oh, shut up." James rifled through his trunk and grabbed his newest model of the Firebolt, which put the one Harry had used to shame. Well, not quite, but it was a nice model. That was the only thing his father had ever bought for him that would show his extensive wealth. Fred grabbed his broom, which was also a far cry from the cheap clean sweeps that his father had used, and the two of them picked up their beater's bats before hurrying down to the pitch. Somewhere, a clock tolled twelve.

"Here on my team," James told the vast collection of Quidditch hopefuls breathlessly, "being early is frowned upon." Rose sent him a glare that could have killed a person. "That wasn't serious. What I meant to say was that you've got wind sprints for every minute you're later, captains exempted. Now, let's begin."

He ordered the second and third years into one group, and the older Gryffindors into another.

"Do I really have to try out?" Fred asked as he took his place with the other seventh years. "I'm getting scouted." It was true. Several International Quidditch teams had looked at both Fred and James, so trying him out would be stupid. But he had to be fair.

"If you're really so good, then you won't mind," James said before walking over to where the youngest kids were standing. There was very little chance that any of them would make the team, but he still had to give them a shot.

"Okay, I want you to all fly around the pitch once, just so I can have an idea of where you're at." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a head of dirty blonde hair sitting in the stands with Lily beside her. He vaguely wondered why Sierra was there. Focusing, he turned back to the kids. "Mount your brooms."

They all did, some with a little struggle. "Now, go."

Keeping an eye on all of the flying kids, he looked back at the older half of the team.

"Fifteen down and backs for any chaser or seeker hopefuls. If you want to be a keeper, you have fifty up-downs. There's one open beater spot, and I want anyone who wants it to start their pushups. When you finish, report back to me." To his amusement, Fred was the only one who went to the place he gestured for the beaters to do pushups. No one was stupid enough to challenge him.

"Do I get the spot now?" Fred shouted.

"Not if you don't get your arse moving," James yelled back. He quickly made sure that the other players were doing their drills, then looked back to see how many of the younger kids were still in the air. To his shock, one of them finished the second he looked over. The rest of the kids where hardly halfway done, several of them diving dangerously low at times before righting the brooms.

The boy who'd finished flew over and landed by James. The top of his little blonde head barely reached James' chest.

"What do you want to try out for, kid?"

"My name is Lorcan, not kid, and I want be a seeker." Crap. He suddenly recognized the kid. Lorcan Scamander. He and his twin brother had both gained a reputation as champions at wizard chess. He was also Sierra's younger brother. That's why she was in the stands.

"How old are you?"

"Second year." James sighed. He hated having little farts on his team, and he didn't want to feel like he was just giving him a chance because of his sister, but he couldn't just send him away after flying a lap faster that most of the team probably could.

"Go start your down and backs," James ordered, and with a smile, the boy hurried off to where the older hopefuls were flying. James went over and gently told the rest of the second and third years to try again when they were older, and they left with hanging heads. He felt bad, but almost no one made the team before their fourth year. They'd have more chances.

"I got seventy two push-ups Coach," Fred panted. "Now when do I get to start making people cry?"

"Calm down. We'll start testing keepers and chasers when they're done with their drills." Fred grinned. Testing them also meant hitting bludgers at them, which was what Fred was waiting for.

"So, who's the midget you didn't cut?"

"Lorcan Scamander. He's a second year, but he got his lap done too fast for me to get rid of him."

"You're sure that you kept him because he had a quick lap? No other reason for giving a second year a chance?" James rolled his eyes.

"You know me well enough to know that I play to win, and this year, I'm choosing my team for talent alone. If you hadn't paid off all the other players so they didn't try out for beater, I'd kick you to the curb without a second thought if they were better than you." Fred laughed.

"Pay them off? Hell, I scared those fools. And I know you'd cut me, but without a second thought? Lord, you'd probably spend the day afterwards crying." James punched his arm playfully.

"Yeah, yeah. But you know that I'm not giving the kid a chance because I feel sorry for his sister."

"Feel sorry for her," Fred muttered, his voice lowering as the rest of the team started walking over. "I'd say it's more like being viciously overprotective."

"So I'm vicious?" James asked him with a grin.

"Wrong word. Not vicious. Crazy." James smiled at him, then stepped forward to address his team, which was now gathered around him.

"Good job. Now, would every who would like to be a chaser step forward?" Nearly all of the group did, including Rose, who'd been playing since her third year. Not quite as impressive as James or Fred, who'd been staples on the team since year two, but there was still little doubt that she'd be on the team. That left two spots wide open, because the other two from the previous year had both been seventh years.

James had them all get into a line, then positioned himself in the keeper's spot and let each of them take ten shots, while he defended the hoops as best he could. He took the six players who'd got more then five through, and paired them off. They threw the quaffle back and forth with each other until James eliminated one more for poor passing. That left Rose, who'd clearly outperformed all the others, and four other hopefuls.

"Time to have some fun," James told Fred. Immediately the Weasley hopped on his broom with his bat in one hand and bludger in the other.

"The first two to get hit with a bludger twice are done," James said. "Now get in a line and remember that any major bodily harm is your own fault." The little group of remaining chasers looked around nervously, except for Rose, who gave James a nasty glare.

"Start." The first guy in the line got on his broom and was immediately smacked in the gut with a bludger that obviously came faster than he'd been expecting. He crashed into the ground.

"Is there any internal bleeding?" James yelled at him.

"I don't think so," the guy said in a weak voice, staggering up off the ground.

"If you're off the ground, nothing's ruptured at least. Get back on your broom and try again." Very cautiously, the boy climbed back on his broomstick and prepared for another bludger to the gut. James could easily see that he was leaning right, planning on diving to the side as soon as Fred shot. Fred saw that as well, and aimed it off center. It would have passed harmlessly by him if the boy had seen where it was going, but he dove right into it and it connected sharply with his arm.

James hurried over to him and grabbed the arm, not paying too much attention when the boy let out a soft moan.

"It's broken," he told James.

"No shite Sherlock, you let yourself get hit with a bludger. I'd expect it to be broken." He took out his wand and pointed it at the arm. He probably should've let Pomfrey handle it, but his mum had taught him how to mend broken bones. "Episkey." The boy let out a low scream as the bone was put back into place, then shook his head and walked off the Quidditch pitch, mumbling about crazy captains loud enough that James didn't have to strain to hear. He ignored the mutters.

"So, who's next?" he asked cheerfully.

The other chasers weren't nearly that bad, and it took several turns for each one to get knocked off. When it was Rose's turn, Fred started cussing after his sixth miss, then told James to back off after he said Rose had already earned her spot. He didn't quit until he'd managed to hit her, even if it did just nick her foot.

Other than Rose, Kyra Thomas and Marcus Eldridge were chosen as chasers. In an obvious show of supremacy, Kayden Wood, Oliver Wood's fourteen year old son, finally got the keeper spot he'd tried out for the past two years.

Then, when everything else was finished, he had to try out the seekers. Grabbing the snitch out of his pocket, he showed it to the four Gryffindors who wanted to play the position that hadn't been properly filled since his parents had shared the spot in his father's sixth year.

"This position means something to me," James said in a voice that was actually serious. It surprised even him, but he wanted these people to understand just what it was going to mean to be his team's seeker. In all honesty, some part of him had always wanted to play the position, but he didn't want people to go around and say that he was a little Harry any more than they already did.

"Sirius Black was one of the greatest seekers that this school had ever seen. After him, my uncle Charlie led Gryffindor to its first Quidditch Cup win in nine years. Harry Potter came in his wake, and from his first year at the school, he played the position with more skill than anyone before or since. My mother filled in the spot just long enough to get Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup in my father's final year at school." He stopped and looked at every one of the four faces. "This position is sacred to me, and if I don't believe that you will do it justice, I'd rather forfeit the season than let anyone unworthy attempt to play it. Do you understand?"

The four seekers were all staring at him in awe.

"Maybe you should play seeker," one of them, a curly haired sixth year said softly. "I don't know if any of us could do it well enough." She wasn't sucking up; James knew sucking up, and this girl was being perfectly honest. He shook his head at her.

"I'm not my father," he told her simply, then backed away from the four wannabe seekers. "Now, I'm going to let this snitch go, and you're going to chase it. You have one shot to prove yourselves. If you catch it in a manner that I think is good enough, then you have the spot. If you show hesitation, incompetence, or any other lack of qualification, even catching the snitch won't be good enough to land you on the team. Am I clear?"

They all nodded, and he tossed the snitch in the air to start the contest. James immediately felt a hand on his shoulder.

"That was beautiful," Fred cried, sniffling a bit for added effect.

"They needed to know how important this is. I'll die if we lose a match because our seeker isn't good enough."

"You just want someone who can beat Albus," Fred said with a smirk. James shrugged.

"That'd be an added bonus."

They watched the four witches and wizards zoom through in the air. Or, three of them were zooming. There was a tiny blonde head that was just sitting there, above all of them, searching for the snitch.

"I ought to give him the spot just for common sense," James muttered. He wasn't thrilled with the rest of the lot for blindly flying around and hoping they catch a glimpse of the snitch in all their mindless zigzagging.

"I would," Fred said. "If the rest of them are too stupid to actually find the snitch before they start chasing it, they don't deserve a place on the team."

"But he's a second year," James said somewhat darkly. He didn't want a kid that age on the team. There was so much that could go wrong. The talent was there, sure, but you can't teach a thirteen year old boy the mental stuff, like how to ignore booing crowds, and how to get past the nerves and jitters.

"He can also fly," Fred pointed out, gesturing to the kid who was now sharply diving straight at the ground, straight at the little golden ball that none of the others had seen.

"Shit. He's going to kill himself," James cursed, watching as he got closer and closer to the grass. At the last second, he pulled the broom up and leveled out, close enough to the ground that he could probably get his feet to touch. The snitch was just a few feet in front of him, and he was gaining on it quickly.

"How can a kid fly a broom like that if he has any Scamander blood in him at all?" Fred wondered. "I thought they were all crazy."

"After that last dive he pulled off, I have no doubt that he's inherited at least a couple of those messed up genes." At last he caught the snitch and landed his broom expertly on the pitch. Fred elbowed James in the ribs.

"Didn't you say your dad was pretty close with little Lorcan's mum? It appears the crazy gene wasn't the only thing that he inherited." James turned around sharply and opened his mouth to respond, but Fred just kept going. "Only a boy with seeker's blood could do something like that. His eyes are even green. You know, I'd be asking your dad about any moments of weakness he's had in the past-"

"Did you ever tell me, little brown haired Weasley, how exactly that redhead gene managed to pass over you? Maybe you should ask your mum about any moments of weakness _she's_ had in the past."

Fred and James had one of their famous moments when they tried to glare at each other before they burst into laughter.

"Uh, James?" Rose asked, tapping him on the shoulder. "The kid caught the snitch."

"Yeah, I know," he told her. He dragged Fred over to where the little fart was waiting for them.

"I got it," he said, holding it in the air for all to see.

"You sure did. If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say that you were one of the Potter boys themselves," Fred said, giving James his sweetest smile. In response, James nondescriptly punched his arm.

"It was impressive," James admitted. "Be here next Saturday, six o'clock."

"So I'm on the team?" he asked unbelievingly. James noticed that his voice had absolutely none of the dreamy quality that Sierra's had, and his eyes were looking directly at, not through him. He wondered how they dealt with each other at home, when he seemed so normal, and she so obviously wasn't.

"Yeah, you're on the team. Can't believe some scrawny little second year made it, but you got the spot."

"I swear to Merlin I won't disappoint you," he said. Then he picked up his broom and hurried away with a huge grin on his face.

"I want to go talk to someone quick," James told Fred when his cousin started heading back to the school.

"Tell Sierra hi for me," Fred yelled back to him.

"How did you-"

"Twin telepathy," he joked. James shook his head before quickly mounting his Firebolt and flying over to where Sierra and Lily were gathering their bags.

"I never knew that you two were friends," James commented, landing lightly beside them.

"She was sitting here when I came down to watch, and I figured that it'd be nice to have some company," Lily said as she started walking away. "Good practice, James. I'll see you later; I'm meeting someone."

"Meeting someone? It isn't a guy, is it?" His older brother overprotective instinct started kicking in.

"Yes." He made a face.

"You're thirteen Lily, you shouldn't be-" he was shouting to her as she ran away.

"None of your business," she called back to him. Then she was gone. James sighed. He'd have to find out who the guy was later and make sure he was acceptable.

"You family is so nice," said Sierra , reminding him that she was still there. "It's almost like having friends." James swallowed. He hated it when she said things like that. It made him feel guilty, and it made him mad, because it was just wrong for any sixteen year old girl to be thinking like that.

"Maybe that's because we are your friends," James said. "Well, I guess I can't speak for my fart faced little sister right now, but if you don't mind, I'd like to be your friend."

Sierra looked up at him with cautiously disbelieving eyes.

"I've never had a friend before." He slung his arm around her shoulder and led her down from the stands, trying not to dwell too much on her words.

"Well, you do now. I bet if you asked Fred and Lily, both of them would be your friends too."

"You really think so?"

"I don't see how they couldn't be. You're cute, and funny, and everyone knows that Ravenclaws are smart."

"I think that wrackspurts have-"

"Nope. No wrackspurts here."

"You know James," she said, leaning her head back so that it was resting on his chest in a way that made his heart beat a little bit faster, "If I do ever get more than one friend, you'll still be my favorite."

"And why is that?" he asked. With her right there, he could smell the same vanilla and citrus smell that he had before. He closed his eyes and let the scent wash over him. It was addicting.

"Because you're crazier than I am." It was such a perfect response that he couldn't help but start laughing. Just having her there made him feel like he was walking on air.

"You know, Psycho," he said, saying her name as affectionately as possible, "you give me a very good run for my money." Even though he couldn't see her face, he could feel the perfect smile that had to be decorating her face.

"No, you have me beat by a ways, I'm quite positive of that." He laughed again, before they walked a few more steps in an easy silence.

"So, your brother is a Quidditch player?" James inquired to get her talking again.

"Yes. In fact, I believe that it was your father who gave him his first broom." She smiled wistfully. "He looks up to Harry so much."

"That's weird. Do you know Lily's kinda in love with your mum. Her middle name is actually Luna, and she'll sit around and have our parents tell her stories about her."

"It's odd," Sierra mused, her unfocused gray eyes scanning the sky, like she was searching for something. "Our families our so close, but we have never spoken before."

"I don't think it's so weird. There are millions of people that Fred and I don't speak to. We tend to ignore most of the outside world."

"Why? They don't ignore you." James ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say.

"Yes, but most of the attention is unwanted. I learned by my first year that most people want to be friends with Harry Potter's son, not James Potter. That's why you usually only see me with Fred, or sometimes Rose. I know that they're for real."

"How do you know that the other ones aren't?" she wondered. James shrugged.

"I guess I don't… but when I tried taking the time to figure it out, I gave too many people the benefit of the doubt. I guess after the tenth time someone asked to meet my father, or mother, or cousins right after we met, I decided to just screw it and stick with Fred."

"What about me?" He looked over at her with a smile.

"With you, it's easy. I know you're real."

"How?"

"Because I can feel it." She looked over at him, and for just a second her silver eyes locked with his. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, and his heart sped up slightly. Then she looked back away, and whatever he felt was gone.

"I'm glad," she said, sounding perfectly like nothing had happened. They walked in silence until they reached the front of the school. "I have to go. Nargles took a hat of mine, and I'm afraid that I have yet to find it. But thank you for walking with me. It was quite nice."

"Can I help you?" James blurted. Then he kicked himself. Saturdays where when he and Fred snuck to Hogsmeade to hang out at George's shop. They'd restock their products, talk to him for a while, then go to the Three Broomsticks. It was a tradition that hadn't been marred for years. But he found himself thinking that maybe it'd be good to try new things.

"Oh, I don't know if you'd want to. It may take a while."

"I'll ask Fred to help," he said. He wondered if he even wanted Fred there. But if he was going to skip the trip to the joke shop, maybe including him would help make up for it.

"Well…"

"Please," he begged. She sighed, a sound that may have come from a fairy.

"If you insist." He beamed.

"Thank you. Your own personal hat-hunters will meet with you shortly. Just wait outside of your common room."

"I'm not going to ask how you know where that is."

"Good, because you won't get the answer." She smiled sweetly, then turned and sauntered off. James watched her leave slightly longer than he thought was normal, then hurried to grab Fred.

…


	4. The Golden Trio II

**Chapter 4: The Golden Trio II**

* * *

"James Potter is a hottie," James grudgingly told the Fat Lady when he got to the portrait. That fun little password was courtesy of the Head Girl, whose hair James happened to dye diarrhea green in their fifth year. She'd cheated on Albus, and he decided to punish her. The problem was that she had a mean streak as well, and since then, the passwords for the Gryffindor commons room have been slightly embarrassing for him to say.

"That you are," another portrait commented when he was climbing through the Fat Lady's.

"Amen," James called back with a smile, ignoring the fact that the woman in the portrait was likely long dead, if she'd ever been real in the first place.

As he continued into the room, he noticed his lesser half sitting in an overstuffed chair with a huge tome in his lap.

"I leave you alone for twenty minutes," James said, "and you go and get yourself under the Imperius curse." Fred held up his hand.

"I have a page left," he said, but he was trying not to smile.

"No!" James cried, attracting the attention of the entire room. "Fight it Fred. You can't let the dark forces control you!" His cousin started twitching spastically, the book falling shut in his lap.

"J- James, help me," he choked out, reaching a hand towards him. "She's making me read…" His words trailed off towards the end of the sentence as if he could no longer speak. James rolled his eyes and tore the book away from him.

"Who's making you read?" he asked, ditching the act and causing the watching crowd to return to their work. He was genuinely curious. Both Fred and he were naturally intelligent enough that they got surprisingly high marks without ever studying. It was very unlike his cousin to read in his free time.

"Lily." James pretended to blanch.

"You know, she was just all excited over meeting a boy. I wonder if she forgot that she's your cousin." Fred rolled his eyes.

"I was complaining about being bored because my other half was hanging with his girlfriend. She plopped the book on my lap and told me to stop complaining. Then she ran off to meet Teddy, who was picking her up in Hogsmeade." He sighed. Of course, it would be Teddy. With her, it was always Teddy. He opened his mouth to make a comment about her unhealthy obsession with the boy that was probably one of his best friends behind Fred, when he remembered what else the Weasley had said.

"When I was hanging with my girlfriend? Please tell me that you aren't talking about Sierra." Fred laughed.

"Of course I wasn't. I was just referring to that other girl you were wandering the grounds with. You know, that one that you go out of your way to help, that you kept glancing at during tryouts today."

"Fred," James growled, turning a deep red. That was one bad thing about his Weasley blood. The whole lot of them had a horrible blushing problem, and he'd inherited from his mother.

"What? It's true. And you'd really be cute together."

"I don't like her that way." He couldn't like her that way, because it just wouldn't work out. He'd known her for little over a week, and other than that, she was Sierra Scamander, who was one of those people that you immediately stuck in the friends only column. He couldn't even imagine kissing her… how soft her lips would be… the way that her silver eyes would peer into his… and her dainty little hands getting tangled in his hair… afterwards, she'd definitely make some impossibly cute comment, and he'd kiss her again….

His head jolted straight up.

"Didjya hear me?" Fred wondered. James ran a hand through his thick hair.

"Wrackspurts," he muttered. His cousin laughed.

"Of course… And by the way? I just said that you're kind of obvious." He rolled his eyes, but as everyone very well knew, he was the world's worst liar.

"You're crazy, Fred." To his surprise, his cousin simply shrugged.

"Well, if you're going to be that way, then I'm afraid all I can do is step aside and wait for nature to take his course." In Fred-speak, that translated into 'I'll get you two together if I need a love potion and an Imperius thrown in.'

"You're blowing this out of proportion."

Fred shrugged. "I don't think I am. Now, I do believe that today is Saturday, so…"

"You know," James said quickly. "We should change our plans. I mean, your dad is really boring sometimes, and-"

"We're hanging out with Sierra, aren't we?" Fred asked, this horrible smug smile coming across his face. James stuck his tongue out, feeling rather like a two year old.

"Yes," he admitted. "We are."

When they arrived in front of the Ravenclaw common room, Fred, because he was so awful, kicked his plans into gear right away. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he gave her one of his signature mischievous grins.

"Hello, little bird. What's going on here?"

"Some nargles stole a hat of mine," she said simply, not seeming to notice Fred's strange manner. All the same, James was nervous. What his cousin was doing had trouble written all over it.

"Well, I'm sorry that we're slightly late for this appointment, but James and I were just getting into a very heated argument." This was not going to turn out well. "You see, we were wondering if you would like to kiss him or not?"

James could feel blood flushing his cheeks, and he opened his mouth to tell Sierra that Fred was just being a prat, but she spoke first.

"I would think not. You see, although he looks like a very good kisser, he is my friend, and it would not do to scare him away. But you, I suppose, are not really my friend yet, and you have a very charming smile. I would think that if asked, I would greatly enjoy kissing you, even if it did scare you."

James should have felt relief. He should have laughed, especially given the expression on his cousin's face when his words had turned on him so badly.

Instead, he felt jealous. He stepped forward, not really caring that he was going to sound like a total idiot. He was used to it.

"I don't think that it'd scare me away," he muttered. Then, seeing her eyes turn up to his in bewilderment, he turned his eyes away and attempted a weak excuse for a smile, especially for James Potter. "Now let's find that hat," he forced out.

Fred and him looked at each other. Fred's gaze was bewildered. At least seeing that he really felt nothing other than friendship towards her was comforting. He shook his head again. He shouldn't have been so relieved by that. Sierra just said that she'd rather kiss Fred.

_She also said that I looked like a good kisser._

Merlin, he thought. There must be wrackspurts everywhere.

That made him laugh to himself.

Of course that's what it was.

Wrackspurts.

"I suppose that we should. I still need to owl my mother and tell her of Lorcan's spot on your team. I do think that she will be quite proud, because my family has never been very good at Quidditch." James smiled. She'd already forgotten about his thoughtless comment.

"The boy is a natural. I'm kinda glad that he's there."

The three kept walking down the hallway, keeping their eyes peeled for some kind of hat. James really had no idea what he was looking for, but he figured that it he spent time with Sierra, then it was worth it.

Holy crap. He really was losing it.

"Yes, he's very good. He's been practicing since he was six years. See, he wanted to be like your father."

"The amazing king of the world, Harry Potter," Fred proclaimed, his voice thoroughly amused.

James couldn't see what people thought was so fabulous about the man who was obsessed with collecting old broomsticks, and who'd called his own son by the name Sirius once or twice when he'd surprised him. James admitted that his father wasn't the most normal person he'd ever met, but he also wasn't anyone to idolize.

Actually, James made a point of not idolizing or imitating his father, because that was what everyone had always expected of him. Instead, he'd latched onto George Weasley and the deceased Sirius Black for his role models. By no means did he dislike his father, but he did hate how people always attached his name to his dad's. Since he realized that his first year, he'd spent all of his time forging his own identity.

He wasn't happy to hear that Lorcan was going around trying to become the very person that James worked so hard to distinguish himself from.

"Oh, I don't think he sees Harry like a king," Sierra said. "But my family likes him a great deal, and Lorcan simply finds him a good person and wishes to be that sort of person also." James smiled to himself, wondering how she'd managed to phrase that in the perfect way to quell his irritation at her brother.

"Well, he's good," Fred said. "I'm glad he didn't try out for a beater spot, or I may have lost my job." James rolled his eyes. Even if Lorcan was better than Fred, no one could imitate the way that they played together. He was actually sort of worried that if he did decide to play professional Quidditch, which was what he really wanted, that he wouldn't be good enough without Fred. He shook off the thought, and the three of them continued walking, sometimes talking about completely random things, other times continuing on in companionable silence.

An hour or so later, when they made it up to the third floor of the castle, Fred spied a hat hanging on one of the candle holders, and Sierra tilted her head as if trying to confirm that it was hers. James didn't even have to look twice. No one else in the school would wear a hat made out of whatever green fuzzy thing hers was made up of, he knew that.

"That it?" he asked anyway. She nodded, and Fred tried to Accio the object. It didn't budge. Sierra rolled her eyes at him, something that surprised James. She didn't seem like the eye rolling type.

"Why would we have had to look if I just could have summoned it?" she asked him. James sniggered, although he really hadn't been thinking about that either.

"Shut it Potter," Fred said. Then he flicked his wand again, this time using a levitation charm to get it unstuck. The lime green fluff landed perfectly on Sierra's head.

"It's beautiful," Fred said with a grin.

"I don't think-"

"It is," James insisted as well. Okay, the hat was very strange, but it looked incredibly good on her.

Sierra shrugged her thin shoulders.

"Well, thank you." The two boys laughed at the unbelieving expression on her face, but chose not to comment further. Instead, they bid her a good-bye, rather against James' will, and headed down to the statue of the one eyed witch to spend at least the afternoon with Fred's father.

As the next days continued to pass, people started noticing that James and Fred's little group had a new member. What first began out as feeling sorry for her soon turned into a fast friendship. At the beginning, they'd only talk if they ran into each other, but James got tired of that quickly. He liked Sierra than he'd admit to anyone but Fred, and talking to her for a minute or two in the hallways wasn't good enough.

So, the two found her one day and started dragging her between them, as had become their habit, with James arm around her shoulders and Fred's around her waist.

For a day or so, this effectively ended their pranks and the entire school let loose a collective sigh of relief after more than six long years.

Then, James decided that it was boring without pranks, and Sierra became one of the glorified pranksters. She definitely wasn't as into it as James and Fred, but both of them were impressed that she'd participate at all.

The first day that they'd allowed her to tag along, they were in the process of testing some of George's patented new 'rapid grow hair serum', which caused hair not only to grow unnaturally quickly, but also in a plethora of colors. The test subjects, as always, were Slytherins.

"I don't think this is very polite," Sierra commented as they headed towards a group of sixth and seventh years with the snake crest on their robes. James rolled his eyes.

"You see that ugly fool at their head? He's my traitorous brother, and he needs a new hair color. Maybe some length and thickness too."

"But-"

"Sierra, just wait and see," Fred assured her. "It's going to be well worth it." Then they took a bucket which they'd filled with the goop and inconspicuously levitated it above the heads of the passing students. Without warning, Fred flicked his wand, causing it to tip forward, soaking the heads of at least half the group, including Albus. In an instant, hair was growing down to their feet, and the colors were marvelous. Albus now had a shaggy head of long, bright orange locks.

Sierra opened her mouth to say something, but James quickly covered it with his hand, trying to ignore how soft her lips were against his hand, then gestured to Fred to throw the cloak over them, and the three ran off without detection.

Once they were in a deserted hallway, James and Fred both peered at Sierra with crazy smiles on their faces. She didn't react at first, and James was worried that she'd be mad at them, but then she smiled in return, gray eyes glinting mischievously.

"That was actually enjoyable."

"Meaning you had a shit-ton of fun, right?" She smiled slightly.

"I suppose that's what I mean."

The two cousins turned and gave each other huge high fives, more than thrilled about sending an innocent soul to the dark side.

After that, everything fell into place. Two turned into three, and they were together almost all of the time. Sierra, James noted, now walked everywhere with a smile on her face, and her confidence got to the point where after one boy shoved her out of the way, mumbling Psycho under his breath, she'd ever so sweetly offered him a candy as an apology for getting in his way. James watched from her side in awe when he realized that she'd handed him a nosebleed nougat. The boy turned and sputtered at her when he figured out what she'd done, but then saw her wand up and pointed at him and ran away very quickly, considering how tough he'd been only moments before.

"You're kind of amazing," James told her then. She smiled.

"I learn from the best."

When James and his two friends weren't busy harassing the innocent (or not so innocent) people of Hogwarts, they were still together. For a while, that time centered around homework because it was really all they had in common. Then, James thought of her younger brother and decided something.

"Let's go down to the Quidditch pitch," he said during one of their study sessions.

"I can't," Fred told him, "But you and Sierra can go. Even take my broom with you." That was followed by a very obvious wink.

"Fred," James growled. His cousin's stunts made him more and more angry as he started to realize stupid things, like that he did think Sierra was kind of cute, or that she was a lot more fun than any normal person he'd ever met, and that weird earrings and glowing headbands were completely adorable on her. He liked her, and there was no more denying it.

Normally, he was totally confident around girls, but Sierra was so very clearly not interested in him that he couldn't bring himself to even flirt. Fred just couldn't seem to see that.

"I'll go," Sierra said chirpily. "Although I may likely plummet to a very painful death, I would very much like to spend time with you, James." Both him and Fred had to laugh at her. The way that she said things like that while still totally serious had long become James' favorite source of amusement, even above harassing Scorpius.

"Alright, Scamander," he said with a grin. "Let's go see if I can't keep you alive." She grabbed his outstretched hand and he easily pulled her off the ground. They waved good bye to Fred, then headed off to the pitch.

"If I die, I'll bring you down with me." He elbowed her in the ribs, and she laughed again, the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

"If I let you fall," he said with a mad grin, "Then you have every right to pull me off with you."

She laughed again, and he threw an arm around her shoulder, holding her a little more closely than a normal friend would, but she didn't seem to notice. He was glad. He liked having her warmth there, liked being able to so easily smell her amazing scent.

"You aren't going to let me fall, though, are you?" she asked him. He used his free hand to muss up her curly blonde hair.

"Nah, this is all just hypothetical. Don't worry. You're under the watch of the greatest beater in school history." She grinned.

"Yes, and beaters are supposed to knock people off their brooms. Therefore I'm quite worried that you'll get attacked by wrackspurts and imagine that you're playing Quidditch-"

"Sierra, when I'm on my broom, I'm too fast for any wrackspurts to catch," he said cockily. A moment later, they reached the Gryffindor's locker room.

"Am I allowed in there?" Sierra wondered.

"I'm the captain," James said, "so it's my say."

"So am I?" He seemed to think for a while.

"Nope. Stay out here and wait." Her face fell just slightly, and he rolled his eyes. "I'm kidding, Scamander. Get your butt in here."

They walked into the empty room, and James rummaged through his locker before pulling out his broom, then used a spell to open Fred's and get his broom out.

"Why do people even lock things in the wizarding world?" James wondered after he shut Fred's locker again. "All you need is a spell, and bam, it's open."

"They protect against Nargles," Sierra said, like it was obvious. Actually, it was the best answer that he could think of, even if no one actually believed in nargles.

"That's not a bad explanation," he said, handing her Fred's broom. "I think I'll go with it."

She looked at the broomstick nervously, ignoring James' comment. She was clearly nervous.

"It's not going to bite you," James said.

"But it might fly away."

"I don't think-"

"James," she said, looking up at him with sweet silver eyes. Now, when she was pleading with him, she made it a point to look him straight in the eye. _At_, not through him. His brain suddenly felt like it was wrapped in gauze, and he was about two seconds away from just kissing her when she spoke again, apparently unaffected. "James?"

He tore his gaze away quickly.

"Uh, maybe you can fly with me the first time. Just so you get used to it." She positively beamed.

"That'd be perfect." So he replaced Fred's broom, and took her back out to the pitch.

"Will your broom hold the weight?" she wondered.

"Yeah, it's supposed to." She nodded, but still looked unsure. "It's going to be fine," he insisted. She turned around and searched his face as if she was looking for something. She must have found whatever it was, because she sighed and gave in.

"Just don't let me fall." Then she stepped onto the broom. James got on behind her, wrapping his arms firmly around her waist. She was warm enough that it surprised him. His arms tightened against his will.

"Ready?" he whispered in her ear. He felt her shiver. From fear, obviously.

"Ready," she said back. Then he kicked off.

She was in love the instant they were in the air. James could see it plainly on her face, in the way that her eyes sparkled and her lips curved into the most content of smiles.

"Having fun?" he asked. She just nodded, and it seemed that she couldn't speak, but was just looking around the grounds in awe, her eyes wide and surprised.

"I was always afraid of flying," she admitted. "But it's amazing."

"Yeah," he agreed, noting her cheeks flushing with excitement. How wasn't every guy in the school falling at her feet? "And the view is breathtaking."

"It is," she said breathlessly. She shifted a little to look at him. His breath caught when he noticed that her face was dangerously close to his. "Can you go faster?" she asked, sweet smelling breath tickling his cheeks. He exhaled quickly.

"Yeah, I can." He sped the broom up and leaned back a little bit, spending the rest of the broom ride convincing himself that he couldn't like her because she would probably be freaked out if she knew.

That didn't turn out so hot. He ended up landing quite a while before he wanted to because she wouldn't stop breathing on him or laughing, or looking too adorable for him to stand.

"I'm getting tired," he informed her, then lowered the broom to the ground. She sighed.

"I guess we were up there a while." Yeah, he thought, but not nearly long enough.

"Did you have fun?" he asked. She smiled.

"Yes."

"And next time, you're going by yourself." Her eyes turned panicked.

"I don't think that it would be nearly as enjoyable without someone as strong as yourself holding me in place. You see, I'm not very coordinated, and-"

"I'll keep a close eye on you. Now don't worry about that. I'd much rather we get back to the castle and get some food, because I'm starving."

She sighed and stared at him, and he really, really couldn't help but staring back. Everything was suddenly very quiet, and his heartbeat seemed to echo through his ears. She was unnaturally beautiful, he realized. Maybe her eyes were bigger than was conventional, or she was a little pale, or her hair was kind of messy, but she was the sweetest thing that he'd ever seen, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her right then and there.

"You know, it looks rather like you'd want to kiss me, James," she stated. He straightened in an instant, like he'd been shocked. Was he really that obvious? He cringed. Yeah, he kinda was.

"Sierra," he said. "You're imagining things." Then he stiffly put his arm around her shoulder and quickly led her into the school before she could make any other comments that he'd have to wriggle his way out of.


	5. Fun, Pranks, and Malfoy in a Bikini

**Chapter 5: Fun, Pranks, and Malfoy in a Bikini**

* * *

Time passed, and Halloween grew near. In the eyes of James and Fred, the holiday was their equivalent of Christmas. In the weeks leading up to it, the two cousins met Sierra outside of the Ravenclaw commons room numerous times before sneaking to an empty classroom and drawing up plan after plan for the entire week of Halloween.

"You see," Fred explained at Sierra's confused look after they introduced the concept of a weeklong Halloween. "It's like Christmas. Most people only celebrate the one day, but it goes on for like a week after that."

"But Halloween-"

"Sierra, what's better? One day of thrilling pranks, or seven?" She smiled.

"One. That way, each prank seems a little bit sweeter."

James looked at her in mock horror."See, that's where you're wrong. Because there is no such thing as too much of a good thing."

"But-" He put his fingers to her lips.

"Go along with us, okay?" She hesitated. He jutted out his lower lip and widened his already big green eyes, knowing that she was a bigger sucker for that look than his grandmother. "Come on Sierra. It'll be fun."

"Yeah," Fred said. "You can't resist James Potter's handsome face, can you? Eyes like emeralds, very kissable lips…" James felt that wonderful Weasley blush starting, but he just kept his begging face on. At first he'd tried to get back at Fred for saying things like that, but since his cousin insisted on making innocently suggestive comments every other second, he'd learned to let them go. It wasn't like Sierra ever took any stock in them anyway.

"I don't know," she said, but James knew that now she was taunting. She'd actually grown a sense of real, intentional humor in the past weeks, and it made her more adorable than ever. "His brother's face is also rather handsome, and I believe I heard him saying that if you tried any of your usual 'bloody annoying games' that he was going to jump off the astronomy tower. What if his life is more important to me than your wishes?"

"Aw, that slimy git?" James asked with a playful smirk. "I think that terrorizing the local population is more important than his pathetic life."

"Think of the funeral, though," Fred said seriously. "You'd have to go through the unpleasant charade of acting like you care."

"You know that you love him dearly," Sierra commented. James rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. People tell me that all the time, and I still don't believe it," he said, even though he did love his brother. Their rivalry was a lot more innocent than a person would think at first glance.

"So," Fred said, bringing them back on subject. "What is your final verdict about a week of Halloween?" She made a face.

"I'm afraid that James' eyes are much too sweet, and I'd rather get stuck in a school of gulping plimplies than make him sad."

"I thought gulping plimplies were nice," James said. It confused him, keeping up with all of those unknown creatures.

"Oh, of course they are," Sierra said. "But you must realize that their bodies are somewhat unpleasant to touch."

"Why would you say that?" Fred asked.

"Because, their poison causes your skin to burn off. It is not a very welcoming sensation."

"I'd reckon that'd be 'somewhat unpleasant'," Fred laughed. James held up one of his and Fred's old spell books, filled with both researched and handmade spells.

"And I'd reckon that if Sierra's going to participate, we'd better lay down some ground rules and get her started on some of our beautiful spells."

And that's what they did, and what they continued to do.

Then, on the day before their wonderful week of Halloween was going to start, Fred skipped up to James after a Quidditch practice with a smile on his face.

"Kyra Thomas and I just had a conversation about you. Do you know what it was about?"

"What?" he asked with over exaggerated enthusiasm, jumping up and down to mock Fred for his obvious excitement. He wondered idly why Kyra would be asking about him, but it didn't really matter to him. He was more interested in the way that Lorcan kept grinning at him during practice. Maybe, just maybe, Sierra told her of hidden feelings for him, and was just too desperately shy to speak on it.

Yeah, of course. Because Sierra was _so _easily embarrassed. She'd probably never like him like that, and he'd end up chasing after her until she married some random guy. Hell, she'd probably marry Fred. She already said that she'd rather kiss his cousin than himself.

Everyone knew that Brooke wasn't going to last more than a few weeks. It wasn't that the two cousins were players—they only went out with girls that they liked—but they'd had quite a few girlfriends in the past because so many of them dumped them once they realized just how much of a handful the two boys were.

Except Sierra was actually now a part of the trouble they made. She was one of them. Brooke would dump Fred, and Sierra would go out with him, and they'd be eternally happy. He had to stifle a groan. She was just too impossibly adorable to lose, even to his best friend.

"Did you hear me?" Fred asked. James straightened up.

"Huh?"

"Thinking about Scamander?" He felt his cheeks heat.

"No," he said, too quickly. When his cousin tried to look him in the eyes, he turned his gaze to the ground. When he realized how pathetic his attempt to lie was, he looked at Fred with a sheepish smile. "Yeah, kinda."

"Well, I could have made your day by a little conversation that I was having with your empty shell while your love-sick mind was pining after your little princess."

"Just tell me what you were saying," James mumbled, blushing even further at Fred's spot-on guess.

"As I was saying, Kyra was asking about you because thee James Potter, Hogwarts ruler of the female species, does not have a date for the Halloween Ball. She wanted to know if you'd go with her." James raised an eyebrow. What this had to do with Sierra, he hadn't the faintest idea.

"And?"

"I told her that you couldn't."

"Let me guess. She asked you why." His cousin's smile got wider, and James was truly getting scared. Now he understood why so many people got that strangely terrified look whenever he happened to grin. If it was worse than Fred's, he didn't blame them.

"Yeah, after cursing you quite imaginatively, she asked why."

"And you told her…?"

"That you were already going with Sierra." He felt his throat tighten.

"You can't do that. I'm not going with her. It, it just wouldn't work. She doesn't like me that way. Do you have any idea how difficult it'd be for me to even just ask her?" His sentences came out rushed and stammered, and he was surprised that Fred could even understand them.

"Not very difficult at all, I'd say. You just ask," Fred said, his smile growing even bigger, eyes lighting up like he'd gotten a pleasant surprise. James noticed, but he figured that he was just having fun with the argument.

"In fact," Fred continued, "I'd say that I'll just ask for you because the timing is so convenient. Sierra-" James froze, not daring to look over his shoulder. "would you like to go to the Halloween ball with the very ickle James Potter?"

Very, very slowly he turned around, praying that it was just one of Fred's jokes. But no, he wasn't quite that lucky. She was standing there with one of her beautiful smiles on her face. Wait… a smile?

"I don't know any James Potters that are ickle, but if he would ask me very nicely, I would consent to going with the slightly insane one that looks rather like a fish at the moment." It was true. His mouth was opening and closing in rather the same way that a gold fish's would. He smiled to get it to stop.

"Seriously? You aren't just saying that because you're afraid that I'll sneak altered quills charmed to write inappropriate things into your backpack, or swipe your wand with one that makes farting noises whenever you use it, or maybe cast a spell on you that makes your nose hairs grow down to your feet?" He almost laughed at himself. It was crazy, how so many girls liked him, when he really couldn't act smoothly to save his life. He really wouldn't blame Sierra if she ran away screaming.

"Well, maybe I am slightly scared that you'll eat me if I defer. If I remember correctly, it would not be the first time you tried that." James felt his smile growing as she continued to speak, not disgusted or terrified at all.

"He's not going to be eating you," Fred said confidently.

"Says who?" James challenged. "What if I want a snack?"

"But you wouldn't take part in a feast like that without me, would you?" he asked, giving his own set of puppy dog eyes. James was feeling almost high, messing with his friends after more or less getting a yes from Sierra. Of course, Kyra Thomas had to come by about that time, and he was yanked very viciously down to earth.

"Oh my god. You have got to be kidding me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if anyone is hurt or crying, I swear that I was, in fact, just kidding." He knew that she wasn't talking about the aftermath of any of his jokes, but he decided to play stupid. It was much more enjoyable, seeing the way her face turned red and she started getting a little lisp on her words.

"James, this isn't about one of your jokes," she said.

"Then what ever could you have a problem with?" She jerked her head at Sierra, and he just had to say, "Oh, I see. It's that strange twitch you've developed. Or are you having a seizure? Maybe I should take you to the hospital wing."

"Actually, James," Sierra piped up with shining eyes. That look told him that she knew exactly what she was saying. "I think that her unfortunate spasm was actually a rather awkward jerk in the head towards me, and that she was therefore saying that I am her problem."

"Thank you, Scamander," she said dryly. Then, like the girl wasn't even there, she looked at James with pleading eyes. "You know that I don't have any problems with Psyc- Sierra, but really, why would you waste a date to the ball on one of your charity cases?"

"Kyra," he warned.

"I mean, really, you're a Quidditch captain, and going with one of the enemy is-" He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand, twirling it idly between his fingers. "- is sure to be frowned upon."

"Uh, Kyra."

"And I'm just saying that since I'm one of your chasers, that maybe-" He was getting thoroughly annoyed, and decided that he'd had enough.

"Langlock," he said casually, gently flicking his wand. Kyra's eyes widened, first in shock, and then anger.

"Come on, Sierra." he said, throwing his arm around her shoulder. "We have to finish our plans for tomorrow."

Then the three of them walked away, leaving a very angry Kyra behind with her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth.

…

After their classes were done the next day, it was time to throw their first plan into action. As always, they kicked off the year with something somewhat small against the Hufflepuffs. Back in first year, when this whole tradition started, Fred and James had planned it out pretty well. Because Hufflepuffs were so nice and generally soft, they got them out of the way quickly because it was so boring to pick on them. After that, they interspersed the other three houses throughout the next three days, saving the biggest for Slytherin. Well, the second biggest. On the fifth and sixth days, they'd do little things around the school to make random people jump. Then, on the seventh day, they'd do something to get the whole school, or in a couple of years, the teachers. It just depended on what they thought of first.

This year, they had the lovely teachers in mind. But first, they had to make trouble for the houses.

"Okay, this is simple, and I think that everything is in place," he said, reaching into his magically expanded bag and rifling around until he found a box of homemade cookies. In fact, him and Fred and Sierra had baked them from scratch just two days ago. With a few added ingredients, of course. Like Polyjuice potion.

"Sierra and I shall create the distraction," James decreed. "While the wonderful students of Hogwarts have their attention on us, Fred will have on my invisibility cloak, and will inconspicuously place these delicious bundles of chocolaty filled goodness onto the plates of unsuspecting Hufflepuffs."

Voices were already buzzing from inside the Great Hall, signaling the start of the meal. The time was near.

"Does everyone understand?" he asked.

"Yes," Sierra and Fred said at once, matching devilish smiles on their faces.

"Then it is time," he said darkly, breaking into a mock-evil laugh.

The three of them proceeded to enter the Great Hall and eat like they did any other day. Only this time, when the two Gryffindors were finished, Fred ran off as quickly as he could with the cloak under his arm, and James sent an conspiratorial wink towards Sierra. She stood up, and with real looking panic in her eyes, started screaming at James, running quickly towards the Gryffindor table.

"James," she shouted, "Watch out!" He hopped off the table and started looking around, his eyes wide with over-exaggerated surprise.

"Sierra? What's wrong?" She kept flying straight at him, not stopping until she'd successfully tripped into him, landing in his arms.

"A-" she stuttered, eyes wide, "A giant fat headed dingerdopper just came at you." She took a deep breath, then jumped back again, "It's coming back!"

He turned and tackled Sierra to the ground, landing on top of her, as though shielding her from something. For a second, having her right there under him, so soft and warm, distracted him, but remembering that he was currently in the middle of a prank brought him back to reality.

"Are you okay, Sierra?" he asked. She took a shaky breath.

"Y-yes, I'm okay." He got up, then held a hand out for her as well, pulling her to his feet as he scanned the room.

"I know that stupid thing has to be somewhere," he said. She pointed in the general direction of the Slytherin's table.

"It's right there," she said nervously. He took out his wand and waved it in that direction, not casting an actual spell, but sending harmless sparks raining down on his brother's table.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Scamander, I think that is quite enough," McGonagall called from the teacher's table.

"But the giant fat headed dinger-whatever is attacking," James pleaded.

"Mr. Potter," she warned. He beamed at her and gave a salute.

"Returning to my table, ma'am." Sierra gave him a quick smile before they returned to their normal seats.

"I am not related to you," Rose said. "That was one of the worst pranks you've ever pulled."

"Oh, Rosie," he said, grinning when he saw Fred slipping back into the room. "You should have more faith in me than that. Of course that wasn't a prank. Just a distraction."

"For what?" she asked worriedly.

"The cookies have been planted," Fred announcing, plopping down beside James.

"Cookies?" Rose squeaked. All of the sudden, laughter started trickling out from beside the Hufflepuff table, and soon spread throughout the entire Great Hall. There in front of them all stood forty or so copies of the evil head of Slytherin, Professor White. In all of his unibrowed, lion haired, pot-bellied glory. They all looked at each other, expressions ranging from disgusted to surprised to angry to amused.

"Polyjuice?" Rose asked. She was trying not to laugh, but James could tell that although she disapproved, she was impressed.

"Yeah. I'm kinda a whiz with potions, remember?"

"It takes a month to brew it," she stated. Fred laughed.

"He's also a whiz at raiding the stuff they already have in stock," he said. She gaped at the two of them.

"No, no way. That's terrible." They both leaned down and kissed her on the cheeks.

"Honey, we are terrible," they said in unison before leaving the table, picking up Sierra from where the Ravenclaw's sat, and leaving the Great Hall, a pack of Mr. Whites glaring quite angrily behind them.

"Happy Halloween," James shouted as the door slammed shut. Once they were out, he stopped and looked at his friends.

"Now, it's time to really get this party started.

…

The next day, they hit home, targeting the Gryffindors. With fancy wand work, they used a tweaked version of the confundus charm on every single one of them, causing them to not only wander into walls frequently, but also making for some very amusing comments, not the least of which belonged to Rose Weasley, when she told Professor Laney that she had to 'Prepare for the imminent invasion of extraterrestrial bovines'. This, paired along with the bright green hair that most of them sported, was amusing to say the least.

After that, it was Ravenclaw's turn. With some help from Fred's father, they got a voice altering charm to work just perfectly. Sometimes when they talked, the volume would be nearly impossible to hear, and at others, their words would boom throughout the entire school. And that was only part of it. Always knowing which pranks to mix together, the three had started passing notes with words and phrases on them that seemed random, but were either perverted or incriminating when read out loud, which was what any studious Ravenclaw would do when figuring out words they didn't know. So, the effect was a lot of magnified innuendos, most of them during the school day, in class.

But the real kicker, the one that they'd really been waiting for, was the day that they had put wonderful timed transfiguration spells on the clothing of the Slytherins. Some guys ended up in eighteenth century dresses, a few in knight's armor, and in the case of several of the more hated ones (the ones they actually did hate, like Zabini), their clothes simply turned into snakes, or canaries, leaving them in undergarments with strange animals flocking around them.

The real finale of the day was when Scorpius and Al had been walking through the hallway towards their last class, smug because they'd been smart enough to put on different robes. James had figured they'd do something like that, and grabbed Fred and Sierra.

"You know what we do now," he whispered. They both looked at him eagerly. He smirked and waved his wand. Immediately, the hallways filled with laughter. The two Slytherins were standing there in lime green bikinis with very attractive pink polka dots.

James gave a catcall, and Fred shouted, "Ooh, flaunt it girlfriends. Show off those sexy figures."

Sierra even joined in with a completely serious, "You shouldn't have done that James. Now pale, half naked bodies will haunt my nightmares," which got the students howling with even more laughter.

The two boys were both bright red in the face, with their mouths gaping quite unattractively. Scorpius was the first to recover from his embarrassment, and he promptly tore through the crowd until he was face to face with James.

"It's funny, you've gotta admit that," James tried with a way too innocent smile.

Malfoy raised his wand, and started to mutter a hex, but he was cut off by another hex, in a rather smaller voice. "Tarantellegra," Sierra said, and James was unable to keep his smile innocent in the least. He started laughing his head off until his face was bright red, along with most of the other students in the hallway.

"When Dad hears about this, he is going to murder you," Albus threatened, finally mustering up whatever dignity he had left. James waved it off.

"You tell him about this, he'll give me a lecture, then at the end he'll sigh and say I'm so much like Sirius, then walk away before I bring back more unpleasant memories." His brother opened his mouth to deny this, but it was true, and his jaw clamped shut again.

"Finite incantatem," Albus muttered, freeing Scorpius from the rather unfortunate dancing jinx, then dragging his friend away, his tomato red face flashing with anger.

The rest of the students crowded around them, laughing and congratulating them, even some of the other Slytherins who'd ended up in strange attire throughout the day. Because really, James knew that even people with half of his sense of humor could laugh at the sight of Scorpius Malfoy dancing in a bikini.

"If only they knew what was in store for them on Halloween," Fred whispered to James and Sierra as the three walked away from the scene of the crime.

The next two days passed quickly. There were some of the usual Halloween pranks. The following first years through corridors under the cloak, or charming statues to come alive, or putting giant spiders in book bags. It was fun, but nothing amazing. That was for their last, final prank.

On the night of the ball, James fidgeted in dress robes that his father had made him take with him. It was stupid, in James' opinion, that they didn't get to wear costumes, but after a few rather… inappropriate costume choices, McGonagall made it formal. Which, of course, James hated. Sure, the robes were nice, and not all that uncomfortable, but he was known for his crooked robes with messy ties and a head of tousled hair. Well, the hair was still there because he hadn't bothered to comb it out, but the rest of it was just too neat.

He messed with his collar before Fred caught his hand.

"I can already see your wedding day," he said. "Shorts, t-shirts, and probably held in my dad's shop."

James felt himself relax, a wolfish grin coming across his face." That would be perfect. I can see it now. Spiked drinks, enchanted wedding favors, and chairs that make farting noises when you sit."

"And who exactly are you going to be marrying?" James knew what Fred was trying to get him to do, but he didn't fall for it.

"Who do you think, mate? It's gotta be Rosie. I want to pretend to be a Malfoy." Unfortunately when he said that, said future wife was directly behind him.

"What are you talking about?" she snapped. Fred and James both shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, not much," Fred said.

"Just marrying you in the future," James answered.

"And then he said that he wanted to pretend to be a Malfoy."

"You know, with the interbreeding."

"You two are so… so… so…"

"Amazingly cute?"

"Brilliant?"

"Gifts to the modern wizarding world?"

She snorted, then swept away, the tail on her dress adding a very nice touch to her exit.

"You know, she is kinda cute when she does that," James mused jokingly. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Save it for Sierra, lover boy." Then Fred went off to find Brooke, and James hurried to the entrance of the Ravenclaw commons room.

When he saw her, he had to gape. She was beautiful. Okay, he'd concede that maybe her dress was extremely blue, and that the multi-colored gemstones that winked at him from her shawl were very unique, but that electric blue dress also gave her a figure that he'd never known she'd had, and those twinkling gemstones seemed to add an array of different colors to her usually gray eyes.

"I'd call you beautiful," he said, "but I know that it'd go to your head." She smiled, and he offered her his arm.

"You're acting rather gentlemanly tonight. I'm quite frightened," she said, although she did link her arm with his. He smirked as they started walking.

"Good. You should be. Our little arrangement for the teachers is going to get me on a roll."

"James, if you cause an incident that gets back to my mother, I'm not going to live it down."

"Why? Is she strict or something?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. It's just that she thought rather highly of your father, and if it were mentioned that I was going to this with you, she may… go a little barmy." James laughed.

"You're joking, right?" But she kept her earnest look on her face.

"I'm afraid not. It's rather terrible, really. I have no doubt that she would be making wedding plans the moment that she heard." Suddenly, his mood darkened just slightly. Would it really be that terrible? Well, okay, maybe he wasn't upset that she didn't want to marry him. He didn't want to marry her either. But really, she could have put it in a different way.

"Well, then I'll just have to behave myself," James said quickly, before he could think too much about her comment. He relaxed when Sierra learned into him, just a minuscule little bit. Obviously she didn't think he was all that terrible.

"Oh, I'll make sure of it."

"But you're still letting me get away with doing the big one, right?" he clarified. She laughed.

"I don't know…"

"Sierra," he said warningly.

"If you insist," she said, even if they both knew she wasn't really serious. Really, ditching the big prank after weeks over planning? That was haggling for a price on the Atlantic Ocean, and then deciding not to want it.

"I do insist," he said. When he finally took his eyes off of her, they were already in front of the Great Hall. For dramatic effect, he took a slight pause prior to opening the doors, then burst through them, beaming, holding Sierra proudly on his arm.

He'd actually assumed that most of the girls in the school wouldn't have much of a reaction. They'd been bugging him and Sierra nonstop all week, so it wasn't like seeing them together would surprise any of them.

Despite that, there were quite a few different emotions going around, not the least of which was jealously. In addition to that was the anger, disbelief, and of course, from the Slytherins, the demeaning sneers. On a separate note, he also took note of the gazes that the guys were landing on Sierra. Oh, and the entire room was kind of dead silent, the ball not starting for another five minutes, so music didn't even take away the awkwardness of the situation.

"Thank you so much for the glorious welcome. Now, I know that my presence has left you in too much awe to possibly speak, but this is a social gathering, and I do assure you, my good people, that I would much rather you chat amongst yourselves than glare enviously at my lovely date," he boomed, loudly enough that everyone looking could hear. Sierra visibly cringed.

"James," she scolded softly. He rolled his eyes and took her hands.

"They deserved it. Not a single one of those girls has any right to be jealous, and not a single one of those guys should be looking at you like you'd make a good snog." Her eyes seemed to sparkle.

"I do think that you're imagining that, the guys at least. But of course the girls would be quite jealous. I do suppose that if you were here with someone else, I would be jealous as well."

He was actually surprised to hear that.

"And why, Sierra, would that be?" She shrugged, like she didn't think it was a big deal at all.

"Because, you're rather perfect." James' smile got just a little bit bigger.

"Perfect, huh? Now that's not going to go to my head at all."

"James," she warned. He laughed and took her hand, dragging her to the floor as the first song started playing.

The rest of the ball was completely perfect, with dancing and laughing, and even messing around with Fred and Brooke. Once, when he and Fred swapped partners, Brooke actually smiled at him and said that he never failed to amaze her.

"And why's that?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow slightly. He was prepared to get defensive, if she said anything about just 'being nice' to Sierra.

"Um, let me see. You're Harry Potter's son, and you do everything you can to make people forget, you've gotten attention your whole life, but you don't abuse it. Now, here you are with girls groveling at your feet, and you fall for Sierra Scamander. It's actually unbelievably cute."

He grinned at her, but ignored what she was actually getting at.

"You say girls grovel at my feet, so why are you talking to me face to face?" Just then, the song ended, and Fred led Sierra back over to them. Brooke smiled and wrapped her arms around Fred's neck.

"Because, I have better taste than they do." James stared at her in mock horror.

"But I amaze you," he argued, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, and Fred does so much more."

James founds himself staring, wondering if she actually did like him, then realized how unlikely it was and took Sierra's hand.

"Come on, let's get out of here before that last bit of punch I had comes back up." Sierra happily complied, sending a dainty wave back to the other two.

At about eleven o'clock that night, an hour before the ball was scheduled to end, James and Sierra found Fred and snuck him out, all three of them apologizing profusely to Brooke. James ran to grab his bag, which was stashed discreetly in a little alcove off the Great Hall, while Fred and Sierra waited in a classroom just a few yards away. He snatched the bag, then hurried to where they were hiding. They were waiting for him, and he emptied his bag as they sorted everything out, going over the plan one more time before they were all three ready to go.

First, Fred returned under James' invisibility cloak, his pockets stuffed with Peruvian darkness powder. Moments later, Sierra and James entered as inconspicuously as possible. Getting as close to the head table, where the teachers were supervising the dancing students, as they could, they gingerly fingered their wands and waiting for the signal to start casting the necessary spells.

James gently tapped Sierra's arm when he saw a small firework go off a few feet away, and knew that Fred had given his signal. In just a few moments, puffs of black started appearing everywhere, quickly expanding until the entire place was dark enough that no one could see. James held fast to Sierra's arm, and the two of them started muttering spells under their breath, using McGonagall's wonderful instruction against her. As they continued to flick their wands at the string of professors, they heard several screams, some of which sounded vaguely inhuman. There was even a gorilla booming strange noises.

Then, the powder started fading, and before they could be seen, the couple quickly leapt away and sprinted to the back of the room, where Fred was already standing, his arms wrapped around Brooke. They were as far away from the teachers as possible.

"I'm not dumb enough to think that you three haven't done this," Brooke scolded, but she was smiling, because she knew that it was going to be something good.

Then her mouth fell open, because it obviously wasn't what she was expecting. McGonagall was the first to come into view, but only James and Sierra knew exactly who the very masculine looking… woman… with a beard was. The rest of the school was screaming in fright, whispering and wondering at Halloween kidnappings, but the three stayed where they were at and just watched, Fred holding Brooke into place. Professor White was next. Or what used to be the Head of Slytherin. Now, his face was turned into a gorilla, while they'd transfigured his body into that of a very large woman, in a bright pink dress that barely covered her/his pudgy legs.

Then, the darkness cleared completely, revealing the rest of the teachers. An extremely annoyed Professor Longbottom, who was mercifully only turned into a ten-year old boy. But the others were all worse, depending on the amount that they liked the teachers. White was no doubt on the bottom, but Professor Zabini, Michelle's father, who although more mature than his daughter still showed an irritating amount of favoratism, had his usually devilishly handsome face too pudgy to see, the rest of him turned into a three hundred some pound sumo wrestler.

"That's great transfiguration work," Brooke commented under her breath, laughing at the swear words Professor White was no doubt saying in gorilla tongue.

"I learned a lot of it working at George's shop," he admitted with a smile. Sierra just shrugged.

"I enjoy transfiguration. I do believe that my wand is made for it."

"Well, it is kind of amazing. If I would have done that, they'd be dead," Brooke said, her voice radiating approval. James, Fred, and Sierra were all beaming.

"Who," boomed the rather manly voice of their headmistress, "did this?" When no one answered, she shook her heavily bearded head. "James Potter, Fred Weasley, and Sierra Scamander, I do believe that the week is over. You will come forward at once and receive your punishment."

As the three happily made their way to the front, accepting congratulations the whole way, McGonagall proceeded to wave her wand and reverse all the effects of their wonderful transfigurations.

"Okay," James explained to Sierra, "You know how we haven't been punished all week? Well, I kinda forgot to explain this to you. After our first three years, they sorta decided to just let us go until Halloween was done. I mean, the teachers all keep tally on everything we do. So now, I'd expect about two weeks of detention, but it's light stuff. They have as much fun with this as we do."

"Will I get it with you two?" she asked.

"Yes," Fred and James answered together. She smiled.

"Then it was well worth it."

James felt himself smile as McGonagall drug them off to her office and went on and on and on about how immature that was, and how it wasn't funny at all, and how that wasn't even pranking, but rather a stupid stunt and blah blah blah. He'd heard it before, but whether it was a real prank or not, it'd gotten a reaction, not to mention tons of laughter. So he was happy with it.

"Are you boys now clear that what you have done was very inappropriate? You should be expelled for casting spells on your teachers."

"Yup, we know the severity of this, Professor. And I can honestly say, with this being our last Halloween here, it will never happen again."

"As overjoyed as I am to hear that, I'm afraid that I'll still have to take fifty points off of your respective houses for each of you, in addition to two weeks of detention, helping me with various tasks for two hours after classes each weekday." The three shrugged. Sierra, with her love of answering questions, had gained her house many more points than that, while James and Fred were used to losing Gryffindor points, although they always made them up by winning the Quidditch Cup.

"Okay. That's good. Can we go now?" She smiled and shook her head.

"Now, this by no means condones your inexcusable behavior, but it was very masterful transfiguration, and I'm rather impressed. You each earn twenty five points back."

"So you love us again?" Fred asked. She just shook her head.

"I'd advise you to return to your dorms. The ball is nearly finished, and it would be wise for you to go to sleep before you get yourselves in more trouble."

"Yes ma'am," they said in unison, James laughing when he realized that even Sierra had done the same thing. McGonagall must have noticed too, because the Headmistress shook her head and muttered something about corrupting an innocent girl.

Upon hearing that, they all laughed and exited the office. Despite everything, James was rather pleased with himself.

He'd danced with Sierra all night, he'd seen Professor White as a gorilla/fat lady hybrid, and he'd gotten McGonagall to give him points for wand work. So, as anyone could imagine, he was smiling long after he'd returned to his room.


	6. Famiy Brawl

**Chapter 6: Family Brawl**

* * *

Sierra trudged down to the Quidditch pitch after serving her first detention after the week of Halloween, a smile plain on her face. Even though the cold nipped at her exposed face, and the dark clouds pressed down on them menacingly, James's arm was around her, and everything was perfect. He was smiling like he always did. It wasn't a beautiful smile, or even handsome really, but she loved seeing it more than anything. Before James and Fred, no one had ever smiled at her. Now, it seemed like her life was full of them.

Looking at her past now was like looking at a different life. Before, she'd gone through the day with a smile on her face, and she even thought she was happy. Her grades were perfect, her mother was a war hero, and her little brothers were everything to her. She hadn't noted anything that needed filling. Sure, she made up friends to keep her mother happy, but that wasn't hard for her. She hadn't felt a need for friends. They'd almost been a foreign concept to her, something that she'd gone her entire life without, something distant and untouchable. It was a fact of life. Just like annoying nargles stealing her things, or wrackspurts making people act rudely when they were all very good people.

Then James and Fred came along. Now, she knew that she'd been quite mistaken before. Friends were very necessary. Her smiles were real now, and there was something in her heart that hadn't been there before.

Sure, sometimes she wasn't sure if she should be going along with their pranks or not, but the more times that she did, the more she liked it. The laughter, the adrenaline rushes. It was so blissfully perfect. She'd been considered crazy her entire life, just like James and Fred. They simply taught her how to use the crazy in a good way.

"Shit, Sierra. Are you sure you want to do this? It looks like it's going to start raining." She smiled at him. Of course she wanted to do it. If she could be with James or Fred, she'd do anything. Especially James. Not that she'd tell Fred that, of course.

Actually, it had started out the opposite. She'd liked Fred more. He seemed less cocky, softer almost. His smiles weren't as mad, the ideas for his pranks not quite so extreme. Most of the time, it seemed like James had been goading him to do some things, and she'd disapproved of James and had grown towards Fred. Then, that day after she'd watched her brother's Quidditch tryouts, James had made her the first official offer to be friends, and she decided that maybe he wasn't so bad.

"I don't care if it rains. It keeps away Heliopaths, you know." Heliopaths were horrible. Her mother had told her stories about the creatures, and some of them gave her nightmares. Rain would make her excursion much safer.

"Huh. I'll have to remember that," James said. That was another thing she liked about him. He believed her. She knew that those things were real, she believed it with all her heart. That's why so many people made fun of her, she knew that, but she also knew that just because you couldn't see something didn't mean that it wasn't real. James thought like that, too. He wasn't just humoring her either. She could tell. He was being real.

"It is a handy thing to remember." They continued walking until they reached the edge of the field.

"If we're going to fly today, you're going with me in case a downpour starts." She shrugged, internally glad. The prospect of flying by herself scared her. It was much safer in James's arms.

"Oh, no. What a tragedy," she said sarcastically. He sighed.

"We are corrupting you, aren't we? The pranks were one thing, but now you're using sarcasm. Sierra, I do believe that you're slowly transforming into as big of a teacher's nightmare as Fred and I." She beamed, loving the way that he was looking at her like she was something special.

"Then I would keep your eyes peeled if I were you. Who knows. I could even replace you."

"If you even think about attempting it, I'll throw you off the broom. It's a quick and clean way to eliminate the threat." She smiled as she swung her leg over his broomstick and hopped on.

"You would be devastated." He got on behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist in a way that made her feel unbelievably safe and protected. She knew that with James around, despite all of his threats, she wouldn't fall.

"I figure that you're right. There'd be too much heartache. But I would be very angry if you dared to steal my place."

"Angry?" she asked innocently. "In case the wrackspurts have gotten you to, I'll remind you again, that you cannot get angry. Or perhaps you can, but if you are, it is a very strange angry. What with the smile, and your sparkling eyes."

It was true. She was impressed because no matter what, he always looked happy.

"Oh, don't worry. I can be very frightening if I want to be." Without warning he kicked off, going into a pattern of spins and twirls, sending the two upside down numerous times. Sierra's heart dropped to her stomach, and she was sure that her lunch was going to make an appearance any second. She begged him to stop for almost five minutes before he finally did.

"James," she scolded. "I could have fallen."

"So you were scared of me."

"A little scared, yes," she admitted. "But not of you." He tilted his head questioningly.

"Not of me? I _was_ controlling the broom, you know."

"You were holding me on the broom, which was very kind of you. I was only frightened of the ground." He laughed, and he was holding her closely enough that she could actually feel it coming from deep down in his chest. The sensation was so perfect that she scooted back and let herself snuggle close to him.

"I guess the ground can get pretty frightening when you're way up here."

"Only when you're flying like a madman."

He laughed again, and she sighed in contentment. His laughs were so beautiful, so perfect. Just like him.

"It's called talent, Sierra," he said. Just then, thunder crashed in the background, and she stiffened. He groaned. "Crap. We're going to have to cut this short."

"I would prefer that to getting hit by lightning."

James chuckled and lowered the broom to the ground, but not before rain started falling. For about two seconds, it was a light sprinkle, but it quickly turned to a downpour. He cursed silently, before he grabbed her hand and started tugging her, not towards the castle, but in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they ran, raising her voice slightly above the pouring rain.

"Right here," he said, pulling her into the very edge of the forbidden forest, under the protection of the trees. Some water still leaked through, but they were mostly dry.

At first it was completely quiet, just the sounds of their breathing mingling with the splattering raindrops above them. She turned around to look at him, to say something, anything, but her words caught in her throat. He was looking at her like that again, like he had before. Like he wanted to kiss her. Sierra took a nervous step back.

She knew that she liked him a lot, maybe even more than as friends. She liked it when he held her, and when he laughed, and the way that it felt when his arm was around her. But she was Sierra Scamander, and he was James Potter, and it just wouldn't do if he kissed her, because there were way too many things that weren't quite right with that. Even if he did look so perfect with his black hair hanging wet in his emerald eyes, his cocky, completely insane smile taking up almost his entire face.

If he kissed her, he'd probably remember who she was, and realize that it would never work, and maybe not even be her friend anymore.

"You look like you want to kiss me again," she said, wondering if it'd bring him back to his senses like it had last time.

"Sierra-," he said softly. Oh, no. That tone of voice wouldn't do at all.

"It'd be best to return to the castle," she interrupted quickly. "You know how horribly dangerous the forest is. I heard that there are lots of crumpled horned snorcacks in here, and they aren't very friendly at all, so-"

"Sierra," he said again.

"I'm sorry. I suppose that wrackspurts would live out here, they got into my brain and made it really fuzzy. You how unpleasant-"

"Sierra," he said, more firmly this time. She stopped talking and trained her eyes on the ground, anxious and terrified, but at the same time, her heart was beating more quickly with something like anticipation. "Never mind," he muttered, and she relaxed, trying to ignore her disappointment. "We really should go."

The two of them hurried back to the castle as quickly as they could.

…

The Saturday after that was the day of the first Quidditch game of the year. Usually, Sierra wasn't a huge fan of the sport, but this time, her little brother and James and Fred were playing, so she made a point to go.

"Sierra," a somewhat familiar voice called from behind her. She stopped to find Lily Potter running towards her, clad in crimson from head to toe.

"Hello Lily," she said.

"I didn't know if you'd come or not, but I'm glad you did. It'll make James happy. And Fred too. But you aren't going to be throwing things at the Slytherins or anything, are you?" She was surprised at how quickly the girl could speak. Her words blended together into one giant sentence that Sierra could hardly understand.

"Of course not. I would never-"

"Oh, save it. I know how badly my family has corrupted you, but don't worry, I think it's awesome. James tells me that you were always like this, but just needed the proper motivation to show your true colors. Okay, sorry, I'm babbling, but I'm really, really nervous."

"Why?" She took a huge breath.

"Because, Teddy is coming to watch James and Fred, and he makes me nervous. But we have to sit by him. Me because he's kind of amazing, and you because I've told him a million stories about you, and he wants to meet you."

"Teddy? Stories? I'm very sorry Lily, but I lost you as soon as you started speaking." The Potter girl took another breath.

"Okay. Do you know Teddy Lupin?" Sierra vaguely remembered hearing about him from James a couple of times, but he'd graduated two years before she'd even gotten to Hogwarts.

"I have heard stories, yes."

"Well, he is this complete god. I mean he's smart, and funny, and cute, and I'm going to marry him some day." She'd never seen Lily Potter like that before. Whenever she'd talked to her in the past, she always spoken very intelligently.

"Wouldn't he be about twenty five now?" Sierra inquired.

"Yes."

"And you're…"

"Thirteen," she said proudly.

"Do you realize that if he were to kiss you, he could be charged with molesting a child?" Sierra asked. Lily's smile turned to a glare.

"He'll wait for me until I'm seventeen. I just have to get Victoire out of the picture, and then-" She stopped immediately and took off. Sierra turned around very slowly and saw her running to a tall man with wide brown eyes and a shock of bright blue hair. The man, who she guessed was Teddy, picked her up and twirled her around in his arms, a lot like Sierra's dad did whenever she came home from Hogwarts. Then her eyes settled on the woman beside Teddy, and she decided that Lily was chasing the impossible. The woman was at least partially Veela, and every bit of her was perfect, from her angelic features, to her vibrant blue eyes, to the auburn hair that fell in shimmering curtains to her waist.

"Hello," Sierra greeted with a smile. When Teddy warmly smiled back, she had to admit that Lily had a point. He was kind of amazing. Not anything like James, of course. To her, no one could compare to James, but Teddy definitely was very, very cute.

"Hi," he said brightly. "I'm Teddy Lupin."

"I'm Sierra Scamander," she says. "And your hair is quite… unique." With a chuckle, it turned to a vibrant orange. _A_ _metamorphmagus, _she thought to herself. Veela, metamorphmagi. What else did James have in his family?

"Thank you. And if I'm correct, you're Luna's daughter?"

"Yes."

"Well, Lily sure has told me a lot about you."

"Oh no, now I'm scared," she groaned. Teddy just laughed.

"Don't be. Lily has said only good things." Then he turned to where Victoire was standing, grinning friendlily at Sierra. "This is my wife, Victoire."

"Nice to meet you," Sierra said with a smile, holding out her hand. Victoire shook it warmly, her smile genuinely sweet. Despite thinking of Lily, Sierra almost immediately liked her, just for her pleasant manner. It was a rare occasion where someone like her was friendly towards Sierra.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," she said. "I've known my two cousins for a very long time, and if you've managed to get close to them, then you're all but family."

"I don't know about that prospect," Sierra smiled. "If the rest of you are anything like them, I'm not sure if I could stand it."

"We aren't as bad as them," Teddy said good-naturedly, "Although I hear that you are."

"Yes, yes, I know that you guys all need to get to know each other," Lily interrupted, "but the game is going to start." Then she firmly took Teddy's hand and started dragging him towards the stands. Sierra hung back with Victoire.

"She's rather infatuated with him," Sierra pointed out to her.

"They're very close," the Veela said. "But it's brother-sister close."

Sierra shrugged.

"If you insist." Then the two of them hurried to join the others.

The Quidditch game was brilliant. Sierra admitted to watching the entire match for the first time since she started attending the school, and it was amazing. James and Fred were both spectacular. Every bludger they hit was right on, and once James whacked his brother so hard that she was terrified he'd be seriously injured, but somehow he didn't even completely fall off his broom, showing that James wasn't the only Potter who was a very good Quidditch player.

"It looks like they hate each other," Teddy commented. Sierra smiled.

"They always prank him. Him and Scorpius."

"_They _always do," Lily scoffed. "You appear to have forgotten your involvement in most of those pranks."

"Oh, pray tell," Teddy inquired while they were watching James and Fred targeting Scorpius while Albus was dizzy. Sierra also kept a close eye on Lorcan, watching him soar around in search of the snitch.

"Nothing much," Sierra said. "All of it was quite innocent. No harm at all."

"She helped them transfigure their clothing into female swimwear," Lily offered.

"It was quite the sight. Scorpius was actually quite enjoyable to see. He had a rather nice body, so I can see why Rose would enjoy snogging him so much-" Sierra started.

"Rose is snogging him?" Victoire asked, completely aghast. Sierra had trouble not laughing at her expression.

"Oh, yes. For months now. Although he lost a lot of his appeal, to me at least, when an unfortunate hex was sent his way."

"She tarantellegraed him," Lily offered. "While he was in the bikini." James slammed a bludger just as they were saying that, and hit a Scorpius who was very close to scoring a goal.

"Painful," Teddy muttered, then turned to Sierra. "Very nice. Now, you said you enjoyed seeing Scorpius? And what of Albus? Even better?"

"No, not at all. He's rather pale and spindly, quite chicken-legged as well. Not anything like I'm sure James-"

"Merlin, it's true," Victoire almost squealed. "You fancy him."

"Good heavens," Lily snapped, addressing the older, prettier witch for the first time that day. "She does not fancy my brother."

"You sure about that, Lil?" Teddy asked, his tone still gentle and teasing, despite Lily's little outburst. "Look, she's trying not to blush."

"Oh, look. A blubbering humperdinck," Sierra said, quickly pointing out towards the field.

"A what?" all three of them asked at once. But she didn't have to try to elaborate further, because at that moment her little brother caught the snitch. The Gryffindor crowd erupted into cheers, but she noticed Teddy and Victoire holding back.

"What?" Lily asked.

"We don't want Albus to feel left out," they said hesitantly.

"Aw, just stand with me," Lily said, pulling Teddy to his feet.

"Lil," he complained.

"Lily," Sierra said quickly, thinking of her brother's crush on the Potter girl. Maybe this could turn into a winning situation for both of them. "Lorcan just caught the snitch, and he is very cute. Why don't you go congratulate him?"

"What is he, ten?" she scoffed. "I prefer older men." Victoire sent a look at Sierra, acknowledging that she was right about the younger girl.

"He just turned thirteen," Sierra quickly said.

"Sierra, if you are seriously trying to set me up with your younger brother, then I'm going to kill-" James chose that moment to sweep into the stands, his hair sticking to his head with sweat, cheeks red from exertion.

"Did you see that hit I laid out on Al?" he asked Sierra, eyes twinkling with excitement. He didn't even seem to notice the rest of his family.

"Yes, I did. And so did your sister, and your cousin, and your…" she looked at Teddy and shrugged. "And your Teddy."

James looked away from, the red on his cheeks deepening as he realized that he never even glanced their way, although obviously knowing where Sierra was sitting. The thought made her feel warm from her head to the tips of her toes.

"Oh hey, Lil, Teddy, Victoire. Why are you all here? Well, not Lily, but you two?"

"To watch you, obviously," Teddy said. James rolled his eyes.

"And here I thought that you had another date with my little sister. Do you have any idea how excited she was last time you-"

"James," Lily shrieked.

"Last time you came to pick her up from the school. It was cute, really-"

"James!"

"Even cuter than that time that she told me she liked the way your hair fell into your eyes-"

"James Sirius Potter, I am going to murder you!"

"Oh, and Lily, I know that you have your eyes set on Teddy, but Lorcan was looking for you. He kinda loves you." Her face was a deep red, and her eyes were set on the ground. Teddy wasn't even looking at her, rather watching James with deep amusement, all while Victoire was sharing a look with Sierra.

"You just say that because you think it'd give you a better chance with Sierra," Lily muttered. Now James blushed.

"Why would you assume that I'd want a chance with Sierra?"

"James, I wouldn't argue that one," Lily warned.

"But-"

"It's true, James. You do look at me like I'm something rather special, quite a bit of the time," Sierra provided.

"I do not-"

"Yeah, you kinda do," Lily interrupted.

"Like you look at Ted-"

"It would be gross if I looked at him like that," she said quickly. "He's twice my age."

"And has the body of a god, according to previous reference," James argued.

"And Sierra has the eyes of an angel, according to a statement that you gave Fred."

"Nice, a family reunion," another all too familiar voice crowed, and Albus landed next to the arguing siblings.

"You're right," Victoire said to Sierra, seeming to want the argument to get more out of hand. Sierra wasn't sure, but she had the feeling that it had something to do with Weasley blood. "I'm afraid that now that I'm looking, he does have chicken legs."

"Who said I have chicken legs?" Albus asked harshly.

"Where's Fred?" Sierra asked above the din.

"Right here," he said, landing beside them.

"Good Lord, don't you boys even bother changing?"

"I was going to, but I heard yelling, so I figured that Victoire must be here."

"Maybe I should get Rose and Scorpius too, just for added fun," Teddy added dryly. Other than Sierra, he was the only one without some Weasley in him, and the bickering didn't seem as enjoyable to him as it did to the rest of them. Sierra thought it was amusing, but also wasn't too keen on letting it continue.

"Scorpius is off crying somewhere," Fred commented. "And I'm surprised that Al's not with him. I'm disappointed. Did anyone see how close that bludger came to taking out his manhood? Not half a foot away."

"WERE YOU AIMING THERE?" Albus shouted. Everything went downhill from there, and people started yelling and bickering and arguing. Sierra stood off to the side as Teddy's hair shifted from orange to bright red.

Finally, after Albus threatened to decapitate Fred for calling Michelle Zabini a whore, Rose joined them, her hair wet and Quidditch robes replaced with clean Muggle clothes. Instead of getting into the squabble, she landed next to Sierra, who was getting tired after ten straight minutes of the arguing.

"Having fun?"

"It was fun, at first."

"This is why James and Fred are so standoffish. They avoid the rest of the family because most Weasleys aren't so easygoing. I can say that about myself as much as the rest of them. One person opens their mouth, and this happens."

"And Fred and James have rather large mouths."

"Exactly," Rose said. Lifting her wand, she started aiming random langlock spells until everything was completely silent.

"Now, would James and Fred step forward?" The two of them did, indignant looks on their faces.

"Go change. You stink, and I have a feeling that your absence will solve a lot of the problem." They tried to protest, but couldn't make any noises except groans and mumbles that quickly faded as they rode away.

"Now, Albus," Rose said. He stepped forward. Sierra saw how angry he really was. "Go cool down. I know you lost, and I know you have a temper. Run off and sulk or something. Approaching James right after the match was stupid."

He glared at her, but when she held up her wand, he quickly got moving. Then Rose lifted her spell. Teddy, Victoire, and Lily all looked at each other, red-faced and panting.

"Sierra, care to say something?"

"I'm so glad that you made it to the match," she said to Teddy and Victoire. "It was very enjoyable." They all gaped. Sierra shrugged. She didn't think focusing on the little things would get her anywhere.

"Um, thanks," Teddy said.

"You should probably go now," Rose hinted.

"Oh, yeah." The two tried to hug Lily, but she was firm in not taking the hugs. So they both embraced Rose and Sierra, then went off. That left an exhausted Rose and a very troubled Lily with Sierra.

"So, what was that about?" Rose asked.

"James told Teddy that I fancy him, and then I told everyone that James fancies Sierra, and then Victoire said Albus had chicken legs, and Albus said that Michelle Zabini didn't find anything wrong with his legs, and Fred called her a whore, while James and I were still yelling, and Victoire was screaming at Albus to shut up about his legs, and Teddy was changing colors," Lily said, looking about on the verge of tears. "I can't believe James told him, though. It's not fair. Do you know how awkward this is?"

"What about for James, Lily? You didn't have to go telling everyone about Sierra?"

"Oh, I already knew," she said. "He's quite obvious with it."

"Then why don't you do something?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Because, then he'll realize that he isn't thinking straight, and it'll ruin our friendship." Lily and Rose both scoffed.

"We'll talk to you about that later," Rose promised sharply, then turned back to Lily. Sierra sighed, hoping that later meant a very long time from then.

"And for you, things will only be weird with Teddy if you make them. Everyone knows that James over exaggerates, and no matter if he was being truthful or not, we could always make him out to be lying."

"Would you help me with that?"

"Of course." She grabbed her cousin's arm and offered a hand to Sierra, which the Ravenclaw politely declined.

"James and Fred are going to be in very bad moods," she said. "I'd rather try to help them." With a quiet thank you to Rose, she quickly left the other two girls and jogged towards the Gryffindor locker room, which Fred and James were just exiting

"Sierra," Fred said, running over and picking her up, spinning her in big circles in the same way that Teddy had with Lily. "I'm so glad that you're still alive." James was smiling too, but he looked worried.

"Yeah, we're kinda sorry about that. Although I _am_ impressed you survived your first ever Weasley brawl."

"Oh, it wasn't too… horrible."

"Yeah, you're right. It wasn't. I've seen it get a lot worse, especially with Aunt Hermione there," Fred confessed. Then he shivered. "Oh, and Uncle Ron. Those two together, ten times worse. Then you get them going against everyone else, and that goes up by another ten. You should've seen it at last Christmas. It was over a sled race. A sled race! And I couldn't feel my face for a week after Hermione's stinging jinx."

"That's… frightening."

"Yeah, it's bloody horrifying," he said. "Oh, and then there was the time when I stepped on Al's pet snake, and it kinda died. I swore I saw the Cruciatus coming off his lips until Ron interrupted."

"Fred," James snapped. "Don't scare her. You keep talking, and she'll never agree to go to the Burrow for Christmas."

"Oh," Fred said, looking at Sierra. "James and I want you to come to Christmas at the Burrow this year. You know, it's rather close to your grandfather's house, if I'm correct."

"Actually, James," she said, looking at her black-haired friend, "that'd be nice, but my mum would want us to celebrate as a family-"

"Which is why all of you can come," he said, now turning his attention to her. "Bring the entire family, and I swear to Merlin that I'll keep the tempers in check. Nothing like you saw today. Not at all."

"I don't know-"

"Your timing kind of sucks, you know that, right?" Fred asked. "You still had a month to ask her, and you end up doing it right after she's witnessed the true character of our family. Without any potions or hexes to convince her either. Flat out just asking Sierra after she's seen what we can be like? Definitely not your smartest moment."

"Oh, shut it Fred. She'll come. Won't you, Sierra? Please." He used his puppy dog eyes, the very beautiful ones that made her legs turn to jelly, and she simply couldn't resist.

"I suppose so," she said softly, even though when his eyes turned back to normal and she was able to think, after the fight today, she was very worried that she would regret that decision.

Then James threw his arms around her, smiling like a madman, and she knew that if it made him that happy, she could more than handle any amount of screaming and arguing.


	7. Christmas At The Weasley's

"Oh, is that James?" Luna asked, looking up from a pot of very strange flowers. About two seconds after she'd shipped off her request to spend Christmas with James and his family, Luna had sent a letter saying that James inviting her to Christmas at the Burrow was the best thing to happen to them since the defeat of Voldemort. Sierra still wasn't that thrilled at the possibility of more Weasley arguments, but she supposed that for James, she could handle them.

"No, mum," Lorcan said tiredly. "I think you're seeing things." He sighed, still looking out the window, his blue eyes drooping slightly. Sierra watched him with a tender smile on her face. She'd remembered how excited he'd been the night before, unable to sleep. He liked Lily Potter to the point that it scared her, because she worried that he was going to chase her like a lovesick puppy.  
Then she had to scold herself for thinking like that, because she knew that she'd been just as excited, and just as unable to sleep, thinking about if James would like his present, or what the Burrow would be like, or whether there would be any pranks pulled.  
"He said noon," Sierra's dad piped up. "It's only eleven fifty."

"And James is always late," Sierra added as an afterthought, trying to cheer up her brother. Really, she knew that she wouldn't be really worried until well after twelve thirty. Knowing her friend, he'd probably arrive at the latest possible time, full of stories and excuses. She smiled at the thought.  
"Do we really have to do this?" Lysander asked from the kitchen table. He wasn't a fan of social gatherings, much less terribly large ones. At the moment, he was much more interested in his new wizard chess set that he'd opened up that morning.  
"You haven't met Harry yet," Luna said. "I think that every young wizard should meet Harry Potter." Sierra laughed.  
"Mum, if I'm correct, you sound rather infatuated." Both of her parents laughed.  
"I'm scared, Sierra," her father said, "If James has gotten even you to start joking around, I don't want know if I want to know how bad _he_ is." Sierra smiled, wondering what he'd do if he actually knew some of the things she'd been doing with her new friends.  
"Oh, quit worrying Rolf," Luna piped in. "I'm sure that James is a nice, caring boy. He is our Sierra's future husband, after all."  
"Mum," Sierra complained. "I don't think-" But she was interrupted by a sharp knocking on the door. With a smile, Lorcan hopped out of his seat yelling that he was coming, all the while in a dead sprint.  
Then, when he tore the door open, his face fell.  
"It's just you two," he said disappointedly.  
"After making a comment like that, I'd watch what you eat from now on," Fred said darkly, strutting into the house like he owned it. James easily followed, and Sierra sprinted over to him, throwing her arms around him in a huge hug. Laughing, he spun her around.  
"Miss me much?" he whispered into her ear. She beamed.  
"It was actually quite serene without you around."  
"Serenity my arse," he said, still softly enough that only she could hear him. She loved the way that his breath tickled her ear. "I'd say that blowing things up and causing chaos is more fun anytime. Oh, and just for the record, I did miss you.

"Okay, enough whispered confessions of undying love," Fred called out, promptly picking Sierra up and giving her a huge almost as big as James's. Leaning into her ear, he whispered, "That strange man is a git with a capitol "G". I'd stay away from him. Stick to the nice guys, like me."  
Sierra took a step back.  
"Do you want me to tell Brooke about that proposition?" He waved it off.  
"Ah, I'm going old fashioned pureblood. As many wives as my heart desires. I'm sure that she won't mind."  
"Oh, but I thought that she was going to marry James," Luna said, joining in the conversation. Sierra looked at James in horror, but to her relief, he just laughed it off.  
"Not until after graduation, Mrs. Scamander. Don't rush things." Now it was Sierra's turn to blush. James put a hand on her shoulder. "What's the problem, luv? Scared?"  
"Very," she answered as cheekily as she could.  
"Well, you should be," he said, then looked back at Luna. "And I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Mrs. Scamander. James Potter, and that's Fred Weasley the Second. We're going to be your escorts today."

"Any injuries sustained along the way are going to be blamed on yourself and yourself alone. If there is blood, that's an extra ten dollars for traumatizing us, and possibly ruining out shoes and/or clothing…"

"I believe that covers everything. Oh, yeah. If you find our service unsatisfactory and decide to complain, we will feed you to the gnomes that inhabit the garden of the Burrow."  
"Is that clear?" Fred asked. Sierra looked around to see how her family reacted to one of their tirades. Rolf looked slightly surprised, Luna had a dreamy smile on her face, Lysander frightened, and Lorcan like he thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Sierra herself was smiling. She really had missed the two of them.

"No Fred, I'm afraid that you have to repeat it," Sierra said. James rolled his eyes.

"We're going to be your escorts today. Any injuries sustained along the way are-"

"Can we just go?" James laughed, and then the five of them set off on the short walk to the Burrow, James and Fred flanking Sierra the entire way.  
"Sierra!" a familiar voice yelled when she stepped into the Burrow behind James and Fred. Almost immediately Brooke came sprinting towards her in a flash of dark hair and desperate eyes. "I am so glad you came back. Fred-" she said, looking at him accusingly, "-left me here alone. With his crazy cousins and aunts and uncles."  
Sierra looked at her in panic.  
"They aren't that bad, are they?" But Brooke never even got a chance to answer, because a girl who looked about ten came sprinting up to Brooke. She was beautiful, with rich dark chocolate hair and latte-colored skin. Her dark eyes smiled up at Fred's girlfriend.  
"Where'd you go?" she asked. "I was looking everywhere-" Fred cut in front of her and picked the girl up, throwing her over his shoulder.  
"Come on Roxy, let's go find mum. Maybe she'll agree to let me lock you in the shed for the rest of the day."  
"James, help me!" she screamed, but he completely ignored her. Instead, he looked at Brooke.  
"She's kind of obsessed with you, isn't she?"  
"Ugh, I swear. That girl is the most annoying little-"  
"Brooke, you haven't happened to have seen Roxanne around here anywhere, have you?" George asked, pushing his way through the crowd.  
"Fred just took her off to lock her in the shed out back," Brooke said with a smile. George let out his breath in a whoosh of air.  
"Oh, thank Merlin. That girl has way too much energy. I was going to lock her up myself. Too much like her mum she is-"  
"George Weasley! What did you just say?"  
"Well-" James tapped Sierra's arm.  
"This is when we run away," he whispered, taking her arm with one of his hands, and Brooke's with the other. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my dad. He isn't as terrifying as any of these-"

"Where in the hell is Dominique? I'm going to kill that bloody-" Louis Weasley, who Sierra recognized as the Head Boy from her third year, came stomping through the room, his unnaturally angelic face red with anger.  
"Louis," James snapped. "Quit acting like a prat. There are guests."  
"But she has my wand," he growled, then pushed past him like he wasn't even there. Sierra clutched onto his arm.  
"I'm scared," she said, only half joking. He sighed.

"You get used to it," he said with a weak smile. Then his face lit up. "Okay, sanity," he said, pulling her over to a head of black hair identical to his own. Sierra felt her heartbeat quicken. Harry Potter. She was meeting the Boy Who Lived.  
"Dad," James said, almost shouting to be heard above the background noise. "Dad," he tried again when his father didn't turn around.  
"'Arry, where's 'Arry?" someone shouted in a French accent. Harry sighed and stood up, but James grabbed his arm.  
"Make Bill do it!" he shouted at an amazingly beautiful witch who stuck her head out of the kitchen. "'Arry," he mocked, "is busy."  
"I can help her-" Harry started, then saw Sierra, his lips curving into a smile. "Luna's daughter." She smiled, loving to be identified with her mother. That was one of the things that she took pride in, because she knew how amazing of a person that her mother had been.  
"Yes," she said with her best smile. "And you are…?" Both he and James laughed.

"Ronald Weasley, at your service," he joked.  
"Nice to meet you, Ronald," she said, holding out her hand. He shook it warmly, eyes twinkling. She felt herself relaxing. He really seemed to like her.

"Speaking of Ronald," a witch with curly chestnut hair muttered, brushing past them. Sierra watched cautiously as she approached one of the many heads of bright red hair and started chewing him out for forgetting to bring the wine. Then she turned back to Harry.  
"Is there a problem with wrackspurts in this house? It seems as though everyone I've met has been acting rather…"

"Loud, obnoxious, noisy," James tried.

"Yes, all those."  
Harry laughed. "I'll tell you a secret. It's not the wrackspurts, it's the Weasleys," he said. "You think this is bad, try being married to one of them."  
"Hey, don't mentioning marrying Weasleys around her, or she'll go and chase Fred," James teased. She rolled her eyes.  
"I rather think that Teddy is more my style. He does have the body of a god, you know." Harry gave her a strange look and James laughed.  
"She's mocking your sweet little daughter."

"Oh, she's still not all on about that, is she?"

"Don't worry," James assured his father. "Sierra's brother is going to take care of that problem

"Perfect," he joked. "Having two Scamanders in the family will be nice."

"Thank goodness, James," Sierra said. "I thought only my mum talked like that."

"Nope. Dad's even worse," James whispered, taking her arm again and leading her away from his father. Sierra waved a good-bye, and Harry smiled back at her.  
The two of them fought their way through the cramped house until they reached a staircase. James took her hand and led her up and away from the crowded lower level.  
"If you don't mind, I find family gatherings a perfect place to work my magic," he said, pulling her through the first door they came to. She suddenly became hyperaware of the fact that they were very alone, standing inches apart. Her heartbeat quickened, and suddenly he looked very distracted. For a minute, they stood there and looked at each other, until he finally let out his breath in a whoosh of air that tickled her face before taking a small step back.  
"I've got everything that we'll need to make this day completely memorable ready to go. Now, here's the plan." He leaned forward again, somewhat hesitantly, and started whispering every little detail of the pranks that he'd been working on. Fred already knew about all of them, so all that James needed to do was fill her in.  
The first involved a charmed set of mistletoe that Fred had charmed to follow Lily. Sierra smiled as the leaves positioned themselves above the little redhead, who didn't even notice. But she knew someone who would.  
"Lorcan," she whispered, thankful when she found the boy through crowds of people.

"Lysander," he said.  
"You know, it's not so easy for you two to switch places now that he's so much scrawnier than you are." The boy smiled

"So you think I've got myself a nice body?"

"If I were you, I would get off that Quidditch team as quickly as possible. It seems as though James has put you under some kind of charm that makes you too much like him."

"Sierra, you know that I'm not the only who James has under his charms," he said. She made a face.

"Not like Lily has you under hers. Although I have no idea how you can compete with Teddy Lupin…"

"Sierra," he snapped. She shrugged.

"I don't know. She is looking pleasantly beautiful today. I think that she's even looking for you." His face lit up.  
"Really?"  
"Yes." Then he took off, Sierra following closely behind him. The second he saw Lily, his smile grew to almost James-sized proportions.  
"Hey, Red," he said cockily. Sierra felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Teddy standing behind her.

"Your hair is very festive," she noted, taking in the Christmas green color.

"I try," he said with that wonderfully charismatic smile.

The two of them fell silent as they watched the scene play out between Lorcan and Lily.

"My name is Lily," she said roughly. His grin turned sweet, and he took a dramatic step closer.

"He's spent too much time around James, hasn't he?" Teddy asked her. Sierra nodded, still watching intently.

"That's what I told him."  
"Okay, Lily," Lorcan said. "I hear you've been looking for me.

"Where did you hear that?" she snapped. His confidence didn't waver in the least.

"Sources. So, have you looked up lately?"

Her brow furrowed. "Have I looked up? What are you on about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Nothing really." Which, of course, made her look up. Her eyes widened in horror, but before she could react, Lorcan was already leaning in to kiss her. His lips barely touched hers before Fred let out a loud catcall, and Luna made a loud comment about how now all that had to happen was James and Sierra to get together.

"WHAT. WAS. THAT?" Lily shrieked the second the Lorcan broke away.  
"I don't know, but you obviously liked it," he said smoothly. It was true, Sierra mused. Her eyes had even shut

"You just, you just…" her voice trailed off in obvious rage. By then, James had made his way over to Sierra with a smile on his face.

"Cute couple, huh?"

"I don't know," Sierra mused. "I liked her better with Teddy." The green-haired man simply laughed.

"Don't let Victoire hear that, or I'm afraid that there will be blood."

"Don't let Victoire know what?" another familiar voice asked. James shrugged.

"That he had a two year stint with my baby sister, and she still hasn't gotten over him, which is where that insane crush came from, and now that he saw her kiss Lorcan, he's insanely jealous and is going to leave you for her."  
"Teddy," she said, sounding aghast. "Is this true?"

"Time to get out of here," James whispered in Sierra's ear. "They'll fake argue for a while, and then it turns into snogging, and then it just gets disgusting." Almost as if in response to that, the charmed mistletoe went from over Lily's head and settled above Teddy's. Sierra decided that she could do without watching what came next.

The two of them left that area and met up with Fred, at which point they continued on their trouble-making streak. Fleur was next, when James cast a spell on the seat of her dress that emitted farting noises whenever she sat down. That was one of Sierra's favorites, she realized, seeing the composed and delicate witch panicking and blushing in embarrassment.

Next was Percy Weasley, who in Fred's words, was the biggest tight arse he'd ever met. Sierra realized just how true that was when James turned his eyebrows blue and his hair orange, and he had a minor episode after he looked in the mirror.

"This is horrible!" he cried. "I look like a fool."

"Is there something wrong with being colorful?" Teddy asked loudly, which caused even more riotous laughter.

After that, there was the dung bombs under Molly Weasley's chair, which Fred proudly explained that his father and the original Fred Weasley had done to their Great Aunt Muriel many years ago. Then, of course, was the training of several rapidly transfigured spotlights on a snogging Ron and Hermione, followed by more spotlights on their daughter and one Scorpius Malfoy. Later, Albus grew a beard very quickly, Roxanne developed a compulsion to consume canary creams at inconvenient times, and Angelina threw up on George when he unknowingly fed her a puking pastille.

By that time, the mood in the house was chaotic. Sierra, Fred, and James were getting glares, along with a few high fives from the ones who still thought it was funny, including Harry, which thrilled Sierra to no end. Her own mother was smiling at her proudly, as though she wanted nothing more than to see her daughter having fun, no matter how said fun was taking place

Despite the few smiles, the majority of the crowd was extremely wary of them, especially Lucy, who Sierra vaguely recognized as a Gryffindor who'd graduated last year. She was Percy's daughter, and kept scolding the three of them for their 'horrible manners.'

"She's more of a tight arse than her dad," Fred said to Sierra when Molly walked away.

"Who, may I ask, are you talking about?" Percy asked from behind them, his hair and eyebrows now returned to normal. Sierra smiled up at him sweetly.

"Lucy. You wouldn't happen to know which one of you she belongs to, do you?" His eyes turned hard.

"Why, you…"

"Langlock," she said with a flick of her wand, then scurried away while a very red-faced Percy started throwing a minor tantrum.

"Cheeky," Fred told her with a grin. "I'll give you that."

"I've learned from the best," she said, and the two boys laughed, throwing their arms around her and walking away. Only moments later, Molly yelled that supper was ready, which James said ended the pranks for the day, but that was okay with Sierra, because she'd already had more fun than she could have imagined anyway.

The meal was an event in itself. With all of the children, and grandchildren, guests, nieces, nephews, and everyone else, there were over thirty people present. About half squeezed into the table, where everyone else just stood on the edges, holding their plates. Molly made a huge fuss about how sorry she was for it, but Sierra was plenty happy where she was, sitting in a corner with Brooke and James and Fred all around her.

The four of them laughed and joked the entire time they were eating, and Sierra would have been happy to stay there all night, but eventually everyone was finished eating, and Rolf called out to Sierra that they had to leave soon. When he heard that, James grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, into a small corner where people could still see them, but they could talk in relative private. She looked at him strangely, but didn't think anything of it.

"So, you're still alive," he said with a small laugh. She shrugged.

"Just barely. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, after Percy…"

"I still can't believe you did that. Did you see the look on his face? Priceless."

"He had it coming." The conversation died off for a moment or so, James studying the ground nervously, Sierra studying him carefully. Finally, he looked up.

"It looked like you were having fun."

"I was."

"Good." Another few moments of silence. He ran his hand through his hair, making sure to look anywhere but at her. After a few more seconds, he was finally able to speak.

"I- I got you a Christmas present." Sierra smiled at him.

"I got you one too."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up like he was a little kid and opening Christmas presents was still the highlight of the year. She nodded and reached into her pocket before pulling out a small silver locket.

"It was charmed by Albus Dumbledore," she said while he studied it.

"Charmed to do…?" She smiled mischievously.

"It'll opens locked doors, even ones that usually need a password." He smiled like he was mad again.

"So you're saying that I can sneak into the Ravenclaw's girl's dormitories at night?" he asked. She made a face at him.

"If you wish to, I suppose." He laughed, and then wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"It's perfect."

"Yeah, I know." He rolled his eyes at her, then took her hand and started pulling her to the door."

"Come on, I still have to show you your present," he said. "Well, if we can fit that ego of yours through the door."

"I don't know if you should be talking."

"I don't have an ego, per se, but rather attractive confidence." He opened the door with his free hand, leading Sierra out into the chilly night air.

Snow fell lightly from the sky, barely even dusting the already blanketed ground. Sierra noticed how everything sparkled in the moonlight, giving the yard a rather surreal appearance. It was one of the most beautiful sights she'd ever seen.

Then James spoke, and the beauty seemed to shatter. Or at least the heavenly, ethereal kind. But when Sierra thought about it, everything that James said and did had a kind of beauty to it too. Like it was interwoven with laughter and smiles.

She decided that she liked that kind even better than the sparkling snow kind.

"Okay, Sierra. If you don't like it, hell, if you hate it, you'd better at least pretend to like it, otherwise it's the last gift that I'm ever giving you."

"We'll see." He stopped.

"Nope, if you can't promise me, then I won't hand it over."

"Okay, okay." She smiled. "I promise." James grinned and grabbed her hand again, and the two of them continued trudging through the snow until they came to a small wooden shed with a rickety old door that didn't shut all the way.

"Stay here and close your eyes," he ordered her. She hesitated. If James Potter told you to close your eyes, listening to him almost always resulted in some form of embarrassment or bodily harm. "Oh, don't give me that look. I don't prank my partners in crime. Have you ever seen Fred or I do a single thing to each other?"

"Well, no. But-"

"See, now shut your eyes. If I do one thing wrong, I grant you permission to hex me later." She sighed.

"Fine." And very slowly, peeking at him until the last possible second, she did close them. For a moment she couldn't hear him move, then there was a second of crunching snow, and a creak that she guessed came from the rusty old hinges on the door. A few things were shuffled around, and the hinges squeaked again. She heard James slam the door shut, more snow crunching under his feet, and then his hands were on her shoulders.

"Eyes still closed?"

"Yes." She felt him shift around so that he was behind her, close enough that his warm breaths tickled her ear.

"You can open them now."

What she saw when she did absolutely floored her. There, sitting in front of her, was the newest version of Firebolt. A midnight blue ribbon was tied around the stick in a perfect bow. Her jaw about hit the ground.

"Don't gape. You'll attract flies," James said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"I- I-" she tried, but her mouth couldn't form words. She knew how expensive broomsticks were, and this was one of the best that money could buy. Why would he do that for her? She knew they were friends, but if he bought her something like that…. Did he really care that much?"

"How about a thank you, or a hug, or maybe some clapping and squealing?" She shook her head, not completely comprehending that the broomstick was hers.

"You're unbelievable," she finally breathed.

"In a good way, or a bad way?"

"Good," she whispered, and she felt him draw her closer to his chest. "Very good."

"So you like it?"

"Of course I do," she said. "But it is rather strange that you would get something like that for me. Why would you do that?"

"Because, I really, really like you. And actually, if you don't mind, I'd say that this is enough talking for now, because at the moment, I kinda want to kiss you," he said with one of his crazy smiles, his eyes gently asking for her to comply. He looked so cute that Sierra could hardly stop herself from walking over and snogging him senseless. But that wouldn't work. It just… she just felt like all of this was a dream, and didn't want to shatter it by doing something stupid.

"Sierra?" he asked expectantly. She swallowed, but slowly took a step closer. That was all James needed to see. He moved towards her, so that they were only inches apart, and very gently put a big, warm hand under her chin and tilted it up so that she was looking straight into his bright, emerald eyes.

"Please don't be too upset with me for this," he muttered, and before she could do anything else, he slanted his lips against hers.

"For the briefest moment, she hesitated, but as soon as she felt how soft, how warm his lips were, she melted under his touch and started kissing him back. It was her first kiss ever, but some part of her knew that it'd always be the best. She knew that she'd never feel anything like it ever again. The way that he smelled like pine trees, and how his breath tasted like peppermints. How gentle and sweet he was, and how it was somehow so much more than just a kiss.

"Oh my god!" a girl with a very high pitched voice screamed. James pulled back just slightly, but still close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her face. Sierra grumbled in her head, cursing whoever it was.

"That little fart," James growled under his breath.

"Mum, dad, get out here! Look, look!" Sierra sighed and took another step back, craning her head to see whose bag she'd spike with one of the special potions James always carried around. It was Roxanne. Of course, it just had to be Fred's little sister.

"Roxy, what are you-" Angelina broke off when she saw the two of them, standing not a foot apart. "Get back inside, Roxanne. You should leave them alone."

"Nah, we're good," James called. "I was just… uh, giving her a Christmas present."

"Yeah, right," Roxy sing-songed

"Roxy," Angelina urged.

"Don't worry," James said again, putting his arm around Sierra's waist. "Her mum probably wants to leave anyway."  
That finally seemed to satisfy Angelina, and she smiled thankfully before pulling Roxy back inside. James quickly picked up Sierra's new Firebolt, and then the two of them headed back to the Burrow.


	8. Am I Your Dream Wizard?

**Chapter 8: Am I Your Dream Wizard?**

* * *

James was more than relieved when he was finally able to return to Hogwarts after another long week of the holidays. After the original Christmas party at the Burrow, the Potters returned to Godric's Hollow for six long, impossibly boring days. Fred and Sierra's absence took a lot of the joy out of pulling pranks, and they weren't as fun on his own family members—excluding Albus—anyway.

Usually during his time away from Fred, he'd spend time with Lily, but she wouldn't even look at him because he'd been the main mastermind behind Lorcan kissing her in front of everyone, most importantly 'her' Teddy, which she'd repeated several times during the chewing out she'd given him after they returned home. That was the last time she'd spoken to him, and she was still refusing to talk.

For most of the first day, he'd stood outside with a beater's bat and slammed a bludger into a tree, until his mum ran outside and threatened to take away his ability to have children if he didn't stop making such a racket. So, he stopped that, and instead took to spending his time trying to play wizard's chess with his cheating git of a brother. Those games always ended in arguments, more threats from their mother, and in turn, even more boredom.

Taking all of that into account, strutting back into the school, knowing that his two best friends were waiting for him, was an immense relief. The relief increased when he stepped through the portrait, after announcing he'd had a recent gender change (the Head Girl's new password), and into Gryffindor tower. Rose was already sitting in her usual chair, Hugo and one of his friends were messing with some of George's new gadgets, and Fred was sprawled across the floor, throwing wildfire whiz-bangs into the air one at a time and letting each one spin through the air, sending sparks flying, before releasing another.

The second that Fred saw James, the whiz-bangs stopped, and he was on his feet, running over to him before falling at his feet.

"Oh, praise the lord you're back. I'll kiss your feet, give you a sponge bath, feed you chocolates, anything, if you promise that you will never again leave me alone with that… that horrid little parasite that popped out of my mother ten years ago."

"The sponge bath sounds nice," James said, but he was laughing.

"You've got to take me more seriously than that," Fred insisted. "You have no idea. If you heard what she's been talking about, you'd be scared too."

"I doubt it."

Suddenly Fred's voice turned high and squeaky in an over-exaggerated mockery of his sister. "Oh, Fred, do you think it'd be weird if I married James? I know that the Malfoys ancestors married cousins all the time. No, it wouldn't be weird at all, he'd love the idea. And Fred, don't you think that he's so romantic? Did you see the broomstick he brought Sierra? I want a guy who's not afraid to spend major galleons on me."

James groaned.

"You have got to be joking."

"I'm not. I swear, that girl is the Lily to your Teddy."

"She. Is. My. Cousin."

"But the Malfoys have done it all the time, James, so it's okay."

James laughed. "Of course it is. But really, she sees me kissing Sierra, and then decides to fall in love with me. That doesn't make sense."

"YOU WHAT?" Kyra Thomas screeched from about two feet from behind them. Apparently she'd come in through the portrait hole and they hadn't heard.

"Well, obviously you don't need me to repeat it," James said, "Otherwise you wouldn't be acting like you were so happy for me." She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her. Fred laughed.

"Look, James. She's so thrilled that she can't even congratulate you."

"You- you aren't going out with Psycho Scamander, are you?" she finally choked out.

"Not at the moment," James said, trying to hide his actual apprehension about that fact. After Roxy had dropped in on them, she'd had to leave right away, and he hadn't been table to ask what had been going through her head at the time. Knowing her, she probably hated it but was nice enough to kiss him back anyway. Or maybe she'd liked kissing him but didn't actually want to date him. Or something.

"Ha," she said dryly. "With that tone you're using, it actually sounds like you're going to ask."

"I was planning on it," he said. "Actually, I think I'll talk to her right now, before it gets too late." He started to leave, because he really did need to do it, and if he left now, he also had an excuse to leave Kyra.

"Bu-"

"Ask Hugo for a date. He thinks you're cute, and you're obviously in need of a good snog," James called over his shoulder. Kyra blanched, and James noticed Hugo looking like he just won the lottery.

As James ducked out of the room, he heard his little cousin say, "Bet that makes your day, luv." He laughed the entire way to Ravenclaw tower.

Because he hadn't gotten a chance to reorganizing his bag yet, he didn't have his cloak with him, but he really didn't think that was a huge deal. As if he belonged to the house, he approached the door with the eagle knocker like he had every right to be there. Then he took out the silver locket Sierra had given him, which he'd worn since he'd gotten it, and pressed it to the bird's beak, cutting off its riddle. Immediately, the door sprung open, and he tucked the necklace back into his robes before strolling nonchalantly into the common room.

"Hear me, hear me!" he shouted, causing the studying Ravenclaws who were clustered at small tables to jump. "I come in peace."

"I don't even want to know how you got in here," a sixth year boy muttered. James smiled.

"That's good, because then you'd have unrequited curiosity. Now, has anyone seen Sierra Scamander?"

"Psycho?"

"Call her that one more time, and you're the target for my next prank," James threatened.

"Sierra," he said, quickly correcting himself, "should be in the sixth year girls dormitories, but I don't think you should go-"

"Where are they?" Hesitantly, the boy pointed them out. James placed a perfectly innocent chocolate frog in his lap as payment, but for some reason the boy didn't trust him and threw it away.

"I- I don't like chocolate," he sputtered. James shrugged and picked the frog off the ground, glanced at it to make sure it hadn't gotten hairy or anything, and popped it into his mouth. The boy watched in shock and some annoyance at losing free chocolate.

"Kinda sick minded, not liking chocolate," James said with his usual smile, knowing full well why the boy didn't eat it. "Who would've thunk it was even possible." Then he left the boy glaring after him and hurried up to where he said the sixth year dorms were.

At first, just strolling in was very tempting, but he figured that Sierra would probably scratch his eyes out if he walked in on her naked or something, so he slammed a fist against the door as hard as he could.

"I'm coming in. If there's anyone naked in there, hide behind something." Then he opened the door. A couple girls squealed in surprise, and he also caught laughter that sounded suspiciously like Sierra's, although it cut off as soon as he walked in.

"You never gave us a chance to answer," Sierra pointed out to him, looking up from a book that she was reading. A tall, raven-haired girl, was reading _Witch Weekly, _and another shorter blonde girl stared at James over a thick tome, such awed surprise on her face that he was tempted to check and see if Kingsley Shacklebolt hadn't walked into the room behind him.

"It was a warning, not a question," he said, then plunked down on the floor next to the girl with the magazine. He heard her breath catch in her throat, and blood flooded her cheeks when he gently took the magazine out of her hands.

"Let's see. Ten amazing glamour spells to make bad hair days a thing of the past. I could sure as hell use that one," he joked, and the girls who weren't Sierra swooned. "But actually, I think I like this article better. Skirt shortening spells." He looked up at Sierra, who was looking very amused. "What do you think?"

"Who, exactly, would you be using these spells on?" she asked cautiously. He snorted.

"Myself. Gees. Don't you think I should show off my sexy legs?" The other two girls were beside themselves with laughter, but Sierra was used to this by now, and she only smiled sweetly.

"If your goal is to blind the student body for the rest of their lives."

"You see, now that hurts. That really hurts." He turned back to the magazine. "See, now you're going to force me to read 'Five Tips to Cure Heartbreak'."

"Oh, no. I am deeply sorry."

"Can it smart arse," he said, continuing to flip through the magazine casually. He noticed the raven-haired girl staring at him. "What? You want this back? Because I can certainly find my own copy somewhere." She blushed even deeper scarlet than she had before.

"N-no. It's nothing."

"Okay, good." It got very quiet for a second, then James looked back at Sierra again, figuring that staying much longer would be pushing his luck.

"This article is very interesting. 'How to Tell if He's Your Dream Wizard'. Think of some random guy and tell me, does your heart stop when he's around? Is he all that you can think about? Have you found yourself gazing longingly at him when he's not looking? Is he in front of you, right now, asking you out and praying that you say yes, because there are people watching, and he really doesn't want to resort to begging?"

Sierra stared at him for a moment, as did her year-mates.

"Does it really say that?" the blonde girl asked finally. James cringed.

"Is this Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?" he wondered out loud. The girl blushed, and started stammering a reply, when Sierra interrupted her.

"If I say no, will you beg?" His insides immediately began melting with relief. She was teasing now. He could see it in her eyes.

He decided to humor her, and lurched forward so that he was kneeling at her feet.

"Please, Sierra. I'm begging you. Go out with me. If you refuse, I will be a horrible wreck my entire life, and will die old and alone, with nothing but a bunch of cats to keep me company. Well, and I'll make sure to smack you with a dung bomb as payback, but…"

"I don't know-"

"You'll regret it if you say no and change your mind later. Believe me. Roxy has her eye on me, and I may just snap her up if you refuse my offer."

She made a face. "Your cousin?"

"Malfoys do it all the time." Snorting back laughter, Sierra finally relented.

"I suppose that I can go out with you, although it's only because I wish to save your poor cousin from you."

"Aw, a noble sacrifice," he said, beaming now, his heart a million times lighter than it had been going into the dorm, "one that I can fully appreciate." He started to lean in and kiss her, but he was very rudely interrupted.

"There are other people, here," the raven-haired girl said.

"Yeah, and we'd like to go first," the blonde cut in, and James had to hold back laughter. She must get high scores to be in Ravenclaw, because her common sense was extremely lacking.

"Oh, my apologies, but I can't kiss you all tonight," he said, standing up and getting ready to leave now that his mission was complete. "I have to leave. Like now. Before I get caught. And Sierra, if these two giggle about how cute I am, don't watch them like they're mental, but join in. Tell them how amazing a kisser I am, and make some comment about how tight you think my arse is. I'll ask them about it, and I'll feel very unappreciated if you don't."

"My mother always told me never to tell lies," she said. James laughed.

"_Cheeky_. But if it makes you feel more comfortable, I'm heading straight back to my common room to gush to Fred about how cute my new girlfriend is."

He flashed his best smile and ducked out of the room to shrieks of "You are so lucky!", and "He is too hot!", and then another, "Did you see that smile!"

He shook his head as he strode back out through the common room and back to Gryffindor tower. No matter how lucky those other girls thought Sierra was, they had no idea that he was the one who truly considered himself lucky.

…

Unfortunately, that luck faded quickly. The next day, when classes had resumed, rumors followed him throughout the entire school. Eight times, a girl came up to him and asked, very rudely, if it was true that he was going out with 'Psycho' Scamander. He replied to them that yes, he was. They'd go on some small tirade about how horrible it was, and then Fred would offer up Hugo as an option, which caused every single girl to go storming away.

"Maybe we ought to try Albus instead," Fred suggested after the eighth girl had stormed off. James wondered what the point of all the storming was, because he knew that the girl had charms with him, and that the class would start about the precise moment he and Fred were due to walk through the door. It was more than a little amusing to think that girls were getting tardies because they were so upset with him going out with the most amazing person at Hogwarts.

"Albus gets enough girls as it is," James said absentmindedly as they strolled into the classroom. "Hugo needs some action."

"WHAT!"

"Hey Rosie," they said simultaneously, plopping down into a seat to the right of her. Fred took her left, effectively sandwiching her in between them.

"You're my favorite cousin," the two said, once again in perfect unison. At hearing that, both of them looked past Rose and glared at each other.

"Well, now that I know how you truly feel," James muttered.

"This world truly is cruel," Fred moaned.

"Would you two just shut up and tell me what kind of action my baby brother is getting? You're talking about Quidditch or something, right?" Tiny Professor Flitwick walked into the classroom, his graying head not passing any of the students' knees.

"Well, he technically isn't getting any, not yet," Fred said.

"Nope, whenever we'd suggest it, the girls would always stomp away like it was completely ludicrous."

"I, myself, happen to think that he's got the body of a god."

"Surpassed, of course, only by Teddy Lupin's." Rose was turning a very scary shade of red.

"Don't worry Rosie," James whispered as Flitwick started class. "He's not getting any girls." She looked skeptical, but apparently believed them, because she returned to her notes without another word.

After charms and up until dinner, another three girls asked him if the rumors really were true. After sending the last one away, he looked at Fred.

"You think that Sierra would be opposed to something big?" he asked.

"Of course not," Fred said, then put a finger to his lips when the girl in question came walking up to them. James threw his arm around her should and kissed her forehead. She smiled a little, but it quickly turned into a look of exasperation.

"I have reason to believe that wrackspurts have gotten to be a problem that needs immediate attention from the headmistress, because it seems as if every female in the school has asked me which love potion, or spell, I have used on you."

"Aw, crap. What'd you tell them?" She smiled.

"I gave them instructions on how to make a potion that is supposed to attract men."

"What's it actually do?" Fred asked curiously.

"It's a muscle relaxant."

"Brilliant," Fred said, giving her a high five. James laughed.

"How strong was it?"

"Their faces are drooping, their speech is slurred, and they don't walk particularly well."

"And they wonder why I asked you out," he said, burying his face in her hair as Fred pushed the door of the Great Hall open. Immediately, every conversation went quiet. James sighed, then took another step forward into the hall and took a deep breath.

"Students of Hogwarts, I can see that you have all been affected by Hogwarts's problematic wrackspurt infestation. It is the only explanation that I can think of for the whole lot of you to take more than eight hours to get the fact that I am going out with Sierra Scamander through your thick skulls!"

They were all gasping and whispering now, although everyone was still watching him.

"Does everyone understand?"

No one made a move. So James decided to instead.

"Well, this should help," he said, and brought his lips down to Sierra's. He snogged her as thoroughly as he could, pulling her tight against him until he needed to step back for air.

"Now I hope that clears up the confusion," he said. Then, panting and red-faced, he looked back down at Sierra to make sure that she wasn't angry with him. To his relief, she was smiling.

"I think that should stop anyone from bothering you if your brilliant potion hadn't already."

"That was very sweet," she said, then gently pecked him on the lips before skipping off to the Ravenclaw table. James looked after her, grinning like mad, before he noticed the headmistress glaring at him from the staff table.

"Detention with Professor White, seven o'clock tonight, for your outburst."

"I'm planning on scheduling a last second Quidditch practice for that time." He saw the look on her face and put his hands up innocently. "Yes, ma'am. Seven o'clock sharp, in the bowels of hell."

"Would you like another detention, Mr. Potter?" she asked sharply.

"Not particularly."

"Then have a seat," she ordered. He gave her his best, most innocent smile, then followed Fred to their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. He noticed that most of the females at the table were still glaring at him.

"Hey Fred?" James asked, loudly enough to that even the table right beside them could hear.

"Yeah, James?"

"Don't you think it's weird that all of these lovely ladies are glaring at me when I was single all year, and only three of them actually had the guts to ask me out?"

"It is strange, cousin-mine. Maybe they should grow up and quit acting like jealous little gits."

"That would be very nice. If only they would listen," James cried melodramatically.

"Yes, but their skulls are too thick to comprehend that they missed out on the chance of a lifetime, and will now never figure out how much of a weirdo James Potter really is."

"I know. Tragic, isn't it? Oh well, now it's too late, and they should _JUST GET OVER ME, _and maybe go snog Hugo."

By that time, Gryffindor table, as well as quite a few Hufflepuffs were looking over and watching them as well.

"HE IS THIRTEEN," Rose shouted when they'd finished advertising him.

"Very good, Rosie," James said, then, ignoring the looks from the girls who seemed to finally be getting that he was serious, he turned back to Fred and started up their normal dinner conversation.


	9. Lily and Lorcan

**Chapter 9: Lily and Lorcan**

* * *

"The captain, James Potter, takes a hearty swing at… um, some Hufflepuff chaser. Oh, and he's gonna be feeling that one tomorrow."

James grinned at Hugo's commentary, a job that he'd acquired over the holidays, when the other one, some chubby Slytherin fourth year, had more or less been chased down after falling asleep during the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game earlier that year. This was Hugo's first match, and even though he was more than a little biased, his words made the sport so much more fun.

"Bloody hell," Fred shouted. "James, look at them." James jerked his head towards where Fred was pointed. Lorcan and Ryan McMillan, the Hufflepuff seeker, were diving straight towards the ground. They were neck and neck, but Ryan's arms were definitely longer, and he'd grab it… But where was the snitch?

For a second, it almost looked like the two of them were going to hit the ground, but Lorcan pulled up at the very last second, while McMillan smashed into the grass and flew off his broom.

"The tiny little fart just pulled off a Wronski Feint, and ooh, look at the blood! Potter and Scamander seem to be having a contest to see who can injure the most players. Aw, what? Yates is calling a timeout, the wimp-"

"Mr. Weasley," James heard Neville scold as he lowered his broom to the ground to talk to his team.

"Okay," he said, a huge smile on his face. He hadn't seen a Feint like that since his dad had taken them to the Quidditch World Cup the year before, and the Cannon's seeker had done it. "They're hurting, we're driving them into the ground, and really, it's never even been a game. If Scamander can catch the snitch right now, we've basically got the Cup. All we have to do is not mess it up. Oh, and if possible, draw blood. I want these guys to have scars that'll get passed down to their grandchildren. Got it?"

Everyone nodded, their eyes fierce. Despite the score being 130-0, thanks in large part to Rose's ten goals, they were still fighting. Even if Lorcan hadn't let them lose yet, if McMillan managed to catch the snitch and win it, it would not only be humiliating, but it'd damage their chances for the Cup.

Moments later, Professor Flint blew his whistle to restart play. Lorcan soared into the air, and James wasn't much lower, scanning the pitch to see where his assistance was most needed. Then he saw the little golden snitch floating around the middle. One glance upwards confirmed that Lorcan had spotted it as well. James flew up beside him, his bat ready for any oncoming bludgers, and easily escorted him safely to the snitch, which he caught without trouble.

"Nice job, Scamander," James told him, bringing his broom up beside his.

"It was nothing special," Lorcan said, but he was puffing his chest out.

"That feint? World class stuff. Wherever Fred and I go to play professionally, we'll reserve a seeker spot just for you to take in five years. You'll be better than my mum, I bet," James said, as he lowered his broom to the ground in front of the locker room.

"You're actually changing this time?" Rose asked from behind him in that know-it-all voice that she had. He beamed at her.

"Well, I don't want some fiery redheaded witch using one of my specialty hexes on me and making me run away with my tail between my legs again."

"And you don't want Sierra to think you smell bad?" she asked.

"Possibly." James pulled his robes over his head and she grimaced.

"I really don't want to see you stripping," she said.

"I just wanted your opinion," he said, throwing his robes on top of her. "Do they stink?" He heard her throw some muffled curse words at him, but he'd already turned into the guy's half of the locker-room. Lorcan was right on his tail.

"Okay, was that Wronski not amazing?"

"I've already told you it was," James said, shoving his broom in his locker.

"You think it impressed any girls?"

James rolled his eyes."Lily is Quidditch disabled. She doesn't understand that stuff, and she flies like shit. It's disgraceful, really, so don't be disappointed if she isn't throwing herself at your feet."

Lorcan's face scrunched up like he bit a lemon." Not interested in Quidditch? But she's a Potter!"

"Yeah, I know. Losing interest?"

Lorcan shook his head furiously, his sweaty hair falling into his eyes. "Hell no. But I've just lost my biggest advantage…" he bit his lip for a second, like he was thinking something through, then asked, "What _does _your sister like?"

"She'd think it was hot if you used big words, like onomatopoeia."

"Onomatopoeia?"

"Yeah, it's a Muggle word. I don't know what it means, but if you stick it somewhere randomly in a sentence, it makes you sound smart, and it's kinda fun to say."

"Are you actually seventeen?" Lorcan asked incredulously. James beamed.

"Well, I'm not so sure. You see, when I was born, my real mum lost me in the middle of a pack of manticores, and I was raised in the wild for a few years-"

"Oh, Merlin help me!" Lorcan cried, hurrying off to the showers.

"Scaring little kids?" Fred asked from behind him. James grinned.

"I think the tale of my childhood scared him."

"The one with the manticores?"

"Yup. I feel bad now. It'll probably give the little shit nightmares for a week."

"You two are so weird," Wood commented.

"Thank you. I'm sure if you work hard enough, you'll grow to be just as impressively strange," Fred said. Then, very loudly, he said to James, "He's just jealous."

Later that night, when all of the Quidditch players had returned to their common rooms, James and Sierra had escaped and were walking around the grounds with each other, James's arm slung carelessly over her shoulder.

"You know that your kid brother has a huge crush on my baby sister, right?" he asked her. She smiled.

"I think everyone knows."

"We need to help them get together. For Teddy's sake."

She shivered."Oh, yes. I think that he was ready to let the giant squid ingest him this afternoon. Lily was…"

"Being Lily?"

"Yes."

"See. This has been going on for too long. I say that we do something about it."

"Such as?"

"Make Lily see that Lorcan isn't nearly as bad as she thinks."

"And how do you suggest that we do that?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas," James said, then leaned in and started to whisper conspiratorially in her ear.

The next day, the two of them were walking through the hallways with Fred and Brooke when they saw Lily and Allie Longbottom walking through the corridors together. Lorcan was trailing the two of them like a lovesick puppy.

"He's rather cute when he does that, isn't he?" James asked. "None of the annoying little crap he pulls at Quidditch practices. He almost seems innocent."

"Don't let him fool you," Sierra warned. "He gets you to let your guard down, and then he takes advantage of it."

"In this case, that's a good thing. Maybe it'll help him ensnare my little sister."

"You aren't the normal over-protective older brother, are you?" James snorted.

"I am, but I'm just taking advantage of a favorable situation. You see, right now, there's a favorable guy who's just ripe for the taking. If Lily passes him up after clearly stating her preferences for older men, who knows who she'll snag up next. I'm just preventing that from happening."

"Yeah Sierra," Fred said, "knowing Lily, Professor White will be on her list in a few years."

"I think I just threw up a little," Brooke commented, but Sierra rolled her eyes at them.

"Lily is too sweet for that."

"Sierra, she has a freakish crush on a guy with color changing hair and an uncanny ability to belch the alphabet. Nothing is beneath her."

"The color changing hair thing is cute if I do say so myself."

James immediately took out his wand and turned his hair bright purple."Cute?" he asked. Fred snorted.

"You are so whipped."

"Fred," Brooke said, slapping him on the arm. "He's being adorable."

"Very adorable," Sierra seconded, running a hand through his violet hair. Fred made a barfing noise, and Brooke kicked him again.

"Sorry," Fred mumbled.

"Whipped," James coughed, and he started laughing, along with the two girls.

"Yeah, I know, you're all against me. Now, we've messed around long enough. I believe that you two are set about accomplishing something." He jerked his head in the direction of the two third year girls trying to ignore Lorcan.

James sighed.

"Ah, I hope that it won't take her a month to talk to me this time," he said, thinking about how attitude to him after Christmas.

"It's a price to pay for their eternal happiness," Fred said, completely glowing. James took out his cloak. It was all that he needed for his first try. For once, he wanted to start simple, and then work things out more complexly if Lily chose not to comply.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Actually, things will probably get a lot quieter. Of course, you and your loudmouth girlfriend make that harder-"

"James," Sierra hissed.

"You can't get me to apologize. I'm too manly for that."

"Oh, James. When will you ever learn?" Sierra asked sweetly, waving her wand and releasing a single yellow canary at him. He tried to swat it away, but the stupid thing kept coming.

"Come on, Sierra, I need to go play matchmaker." The canary very painfully bit his ear.

"Apologize," she ordered.

"Never!" Another bird came out of her wand. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now make the sodding birds stop." She did, and he tried to glare at her a moment before giving it up and smiling instead.

"You're such a prat."

"It takes one to know one," she sing-songed, then took his hand in hers. "Now, Fred is right. Go make my little brother happy." James smiled, then pulled his cloak over his head and jogged forward until he was up by Lily and Allie.

"Come on, Lily," he heard Allie hiss. "Look at him. He's adorable. Just say yes."

"I don't like him like that," she whispered back, barely loud enough for him to hear.

James decided that it was time to cut in, and held his foot out, tripping her backwards and directly into Lorcan's arms. At first Lorcan was surprised, but he recovered quickly, helping her to get her balance.

"I just saved you major humiliation," he said.

"And do you expect something for that?"

"How about a kiss?"

"How about a no. Thank you, but no thank you." Then she walked away, loudly saying, "And James, I'm burning your invisibility cloak."

…

A week later, James and Lorcan were returning to the castle from Quidditch practice, and he knew that Sierra was supposed to be coming with Lily in only a moment. This was shaky as well, but he didn't want to resort to extremes too quickly, not on his favorite sibling.

"You're not talking very much," Lorcan told him.

"I'm waiting for our sisters to round the corner. Then Sierra and I are going to conveniently leave you two alone. Good plan?" He rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad that you care, but really? You're one of the biggest geniuses in the school, and that's all you can give me."

"You're still wearing Quidditch robes. Lily loves guys in Quidditch robes, or at least when Teddy wore his. So you do have an advantage. Kinda."

"I think she'd like it if Teddy wore a dress with a dead cat stitched on the front."

"Jealous?"

"Wow, you're good," he said sarcastically. A moment later, the two girls rounded the corner.

"Fancy meeting you here, Sierra," James said, his face contorted in a smile that probably looked way too big.

"Hi, James," she said. "I was just telling Lily about the migration patterns of Crumple Horned Snorcacks." Lily glared at him, very clearly mouthing, _'she's crazy'._

"I don't think that some people fully appreciate your intelligence," James said, throwing his arm around her waist.

"But I still have to tell Lily about the mating rituals of the Western Alpine version of snorcack."

"Oh, that sounds very interesting," Lily piped up suddenly, looking very pointedly at Lorcan. James glared at her as best he could.

"You just called her crazy. Come on, you can tell me about snorcackian mating rituals, and we'll leave these two to themselves," he said, and quickly pulled her away. When they were back safely in the castle, he stopped to look at her. "Okay, please tell me that you don't actually know the mating rituals of Western Alpine Snorcacks."

She gave him his favorite smirk.

"First, they-"

"Really?"

"Ah, I'm hurt. Don't you want to know about how they urinate-"

"You see, this is what I was afraid of. No wonder you scared my little sister off. What exactly did you tell her about their migration patterns?"

She shrugged. "I may have made up some inaccurate information that was truly ridiculous."

"Oh, this should be good."

"Well, you do know that whenever snorcacks end up going through Transylvania, they partake in the native dancing festival while wearing red hats mad of hippogriff feathers. It is a mixture of American alternative and a traditional Irish Jig."

"And she thought you were serious?" She shrugged.

"I do have a reputation, you know." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. Now let's go wait in the common room to see if your brother returns alive."

As it turned out, Lorcan was alive, but just barely. James and Sierra (who got several strange looks) had been sitting in Gryffindors common room for not ten minutes when the portrait swung open and Lorcan marched in, trailed by a shouting Lily.

"Do you ever shut up!" she yelled, seemingly oblivious to the watching crowd.

"I never even said anything," he argued back. "You just went off for no reason. It's not my fault!"

"I went off because you were looking at me funny."

"I was looking at you funny? You're unbelievable."

"Does that mean you'll finally get over your disgusting crush on me?"

"You mean like that disgusting crush you have on a guy twice your age?" Lily's ears were turning very red, and James knew that it'd be smart to stop it, but he wanted to see what Lorcan was going to do.

"I DO NOT LIKE TEDDY!"

"You're kidding me, right? I'm not that stupid."

"I beg to differ."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Because… because… I just do!"

"No, you don't. The only reason that you're acting like this is because you like me and you're too shallow to admit it."

"You are so full of yourself!"

"I'm only telling the truth!"

"Oh, just… just… leave me alone!" Then she stomped off. Lorcan ran a hand through his messy blonde hair and sighed before looking at James.

"That did not turn out like I'd planned."

…

For several weeks after that, James and Sierra tried several other ideas. From more bumping and hitting, to having Lorcan give her a pygmy puff, or James meddling with a daydream charm to get her to dream of him, nothing would work. He noticed that Lily had started slinking to all of her classes in the quietest manner possible, and that every little noise would make her jump. But whenever James talked to her, she would insist that she completely detested Lorcan Scamander.

"Have you ever thought, that maybe, just maybe, she really doesn't like him?" Albus asked him one day when they ran into each other between classes. James and Fred turned to look at him, their expressions looking as if they'd just eaten something terrible.

"Have you ever thought, that maybe, just maybe, it's Gryffindor business, and that snaky Slytherins should stay out of it?" Albus rolled his eyes.

"She's my sister, too."

"Yeah, and she's being ridiculous."

"I don't think so."

"Well, I do. So just-" He finished the sentence by throwing a dung bomb over his shoulder and running off after Fred.

"Alright, what's our next course of action going to be?" James asked once they were out of Albus's range.

"I don't know. What's Sierra think?"

"She thinks that it's almost love potion time."

"You know that Lily would kill you for that, right?"

"Exactly. That's why I'm not going to try that unless it's a last resort."

"Well, what else do you have in mind?"

"Make her sick, maybe, and let Lorcan nurse her back to health."

James stopped in front of the portrait and proudly announced that he had a crush on Professor McGonagall, then stepped in when the fat lady swung open with a smirk.

"That's a perfect idea. I'll start modifying the puking pastilles for a long term-" Fred started, then trailed off. James turned around to follow his gaze. Lorcan and Sierra were sitting at a table, playing wizarding chess. Both of their faces were red, and they were looking at the board like the match was a matter of life and death.

"Well, now that they're talking without being forced," James said hopefully. But Hugo had already dashed over to them, his brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"They've made a bet," he said.

"And what's that?"

"If Lily wins, Lorcan calls you guys off and stops bothering her, and the two of them forget everything. If Lorcan wins, she gives him a chance." James and Fred scrunched their faces in disappointment. Either way, this took the excitement out of everything.

"Well, who's winning now?" Fred asked, turning his attention back to the board. James noticed Sierra skip up to him with a smile.

"Lorcan."

"Wow. Naughty, naughty, naughty. Who do you think you are, sneaking in here without my permission?

"Lorcan let me in. He wished for me to see him beat your sister."

"Well, let's just hope that he actually does. I don't want Lily to be gloating about the whole thing, not to mention that if he loses, these last three weeks will have been a complete and total waste."

"Not a total waste," Fred piped up. "At least Lily will be mad enough at us that we won't have to listen to her go on about how she and Teddy will be able to elope together now that Lorcan's out of the picture."

"Too true," James said, then hurried back to one of the couches nearest the pair to watch the match. The other three quickly followed.

"That was the dumbest move I have ever seen," Lily said, and one of her pieces moved forward before completely dismantling Lorcan's remaining knight.

"You know, your queen is kind of open now," Lorcan told her, and her eyes quickly flashed to her half of the board, a noise of horror escaping her mouth. He laughed. "Just joking."

He moved his queen one spot to the side, just to pass a turn.

Nothing exciting happened for a very long time, and James started getting bored. Chess was not his thing, and sitting in one place for a one time grated on his rat-sized attention span. But he stayed where he was, and although he wasn't watching closely, he listened to their banter so he knew what was going on. Once it sounded like it was winding down, he finally opened his eyes again. Lorcan had his king and queen left, while Lily had a knight, a bishop, and a pawn to go with her king.

"If they get a stalemate…" he heard Hugo mutter.

"I'm not giving her that satisfaction," Lorcan said, carefully moving his queen one to the side with the obvious intent of cornering her remaining pawn. She moved it out of the way, another space closer to Lorcan's side of the board.

"Of course you aren't going to get a stalemate," Lily said, watching him move his queen so that it could cut off her pawn. "Because you're going to lose." With a blazing grin, she sent her knight forward, so that if his queen moved up to take out the pawn, it would be able to take her. If his queen went to a side, her pawn would successfully reach the other side of the board, and she'd surely bring her queen back. He couldn't even move his king to use a turn, because Lily's bishop had it cornered. Lorcan realized this about the same time James did, because his smug smile suddenly dissipated.

He moved his queen forward to take out Lily's pawn, and she immediately killed it with her knight. That left his king as the only piece he could move, but seeing as it was impossible to move it into a checkmate, the piece exploded, and Lorcan pounded his fist on the table before turning to her.

"I suppose I should've got Lysander to switch with me for this," he said bitterly, before forcing a smile. "But good match. Really."

James saw something in Lily's eyes and beamed, poking Fred in the ribs.

"See, we're not as stupid as Albus thinks," he whispered, watching her bite her lip and fidget kind of nervously.

"Thanks. Um, you too."

"Well, I suppose that I won't be talking to you for a while. Sorry 'bout all the trouble."

"Oh, really. It… wasn't so bad." Lorcan shrugged and started to walk away. She grabbed his arm. James, Fred, and Sierra all smiled like mad.

"I cheated," she blurted, her face turning scarlet. "I shouldn't have won. I mean, you won fair and square. I… I cheated."

"What? No, you-"

"Ugh! Lorcan, you are a stupid, insufferable, horribly annoying, brainless-"

"But I-"

"But you've never done anything? Yeah, you have. You have ruined everything that I could ever have had with Teddy-"

"Really, Lily, I think that was ruined before I-"

"He doesn't seem like anything to me anymore. Even his stupid metamorphmagus thing is getting old."

"Wait…" His eyes widened when he realized what she was getting at, and a huge smile took over his face. James could hardly keep from laughing at his enthusiasm.

"I cheated, okay Lorcan? You won the bet."

"I swear, I won't disappoint you Lily. I mean, I'll even dye my hair any bright color you want if it makes you happy."

"Don't you ever listen? I said that's getting old. Blonde is much cuter anyway."

The room grew silent when he threw his arm around her shoulder and the two of them left together.

"Do you think she liked him the whole time?" James asked out loud. Sierra sighed.

"Most likely. She was just too much like her brother to say it." James snorted and started to say something, but Fred interrupted him.

"So you mean to tell me, that all that work we did…"

"Was kind of for nothing."

"Stupid, bloody,-"

"Smile, Fred. It's the price to pay for assuring that the young and foolish get themselves to realize their feelings for each other," James said haughtily. Sierra elbowed his ribs. "Well, and for making sure that Teddy now owes me for life. But, that wasn't the main point.

The three of them started laughing, unable to contain their good moods.


	10. Graduation Day

**Chapter 10: Graduation Day**

* * *

"You know, I kind of feel a sick kind of regret at leaving this place," Fred announced as he and James started stuffing everything into their trunks.

"Yeah, it's almost like I don't want to go…" James trailed off. The two of them locked eyes and sighed.

"I can't even laugh. This is horrible."

"Don't worry, it's not like we actually have to get jobs or anything," James said, looking at the pile of letters still setting on his bed. They were all offers from professional Quidditch teams. Both he and Fred had ultimately decided on Montrose, because the Scottish team's home pitch was only an hour away from Hogwarts, and it even enabled James and Fred to live conveniently in Hogsmeade, allowing them to not only watch all of the Quidditch matches and stay in touch with family, but also letting James and Sierra still see each other more often than otherwise.

"Yeah, but still… we've been here the last seven years of our lives, and now we're just going to be gone."

"I don't think we'll just be gone, Fred," James said, looking around the dorm sadly as he shoved the letters into his trunk. "I mean, everyone still remembers the marks our parents have left on this place, and that was years ago."

"But they were war heroes. Hell, you dad was _thee_ war hero. Of course they'll be remembered." James started looking through corners to make sure that he'd picked everything up.

"I don't know about that. Aren't our parents connected with bad memories? You've seen the old teachers, like Flitwick, cringe when they say Fred Weasley to you. It hurts them to think about everything that's happened. They don't want to remember the things that our parents were connected with. But for us, it's different. The mark that we left here, well, it was laughing and jokes, and things that people will _want _to remember, things that they'll strive not to forget."

Fred smiled more surely now. "That makes sense. But, still…"

"It sucks. It's like the past seven years of our life are just…"

"Gone."

"Exactly."

"You know, sometimes I wish I could have bombed my way out of like my dad and the first Fred. That I could've done something that's gotten memorialized. You know, like that little piece of the portable swamp that's still upstairs? No one's going to forget what they did. They went out with a bang."

"And who says we can't?" James smiled at him, heaving his trunk off the floor and taking one last look around what had been his home away from home for the past seven years. His bag, still filled with all of their supplies, was waiting by the door, in easy reach. "Fred, I think that we have time for one last day of fun."

His cousin smiled at him, his eyes shining slightly as he lifted his own trunk. "Perfect, mate, just perfect." James struggled to shoulder his bag, and the two of them waddled down the stairs, leaving their trunks in a pile that would get magically transported to their homes. James kept his school bag on his shoulder.

"Before we do anything big, I need to get back at little miss Head Girl for being an arse to me the entire year," James muttered, pulling out a vial of a potion that him and Fred had been working on for George.

"Oh, come on James, it's probably the biggest day of her under-exciting life."

"Well, she shouldn't have been such a git," he said, shoving the tiny vial into his graduation robes.

"Alright, but there has to be more to it than _that_. We need something big."

"Do you think we have time to sneak out and apparate down to Hogsmeade quick?"

"Why?"

"I just want to grab a few things from your father's store, that's all," James said. Fred sighed.

"We've got forty minutes to get there, back, and to set up whatever your planning."

"Give me thirty nine."

…

Exactly thirty nine minutes later, the two of them dove into the seats just as McGonagall started the ceremony. For Fred this wasn't a problem, but as James was required to speak, he basically stomped onto the stage while she was talking. The headmistress fixed him with an icy glare, but James was breathing too hard to care. He simply settled into his seat and sat down, telling himself not to fidget and that surely the speeches wouldn't be too horribly long.

McGonagall turned the microphone over to the Flitwick, who went on about hard work and how accomplished every one of the students were. Then the Head Boy, a Ravenclaw, took his place and droned on and on about his experiences at Hogwarts, and how much he'd learned, and how he was going to use it now that he'd graduated. James rested his head in his hands, fighting to keep his eyes on the speaker.

That didn't turn out well. He started searching the people who had gathered, beaming when he saw his family, all forty-some of them, sitting together in the middle of the crowd. Sierra was wedged between a sleeping Roxanne and Lily, who was at a fidgety Lorcan's side. Sierra noticed him looking and smiled before jerking her head back up to the Ravenclaw. James pantomimed sleeping, then noticed his mother watching the exchange with her strict eyes and immediately turned back to the Head Boy.

After another five minutes, James covertly conjured a small sparkling ball, which he flicked into the crowd of students sitting below him. Someone else hit it, and it multiplied, the now doubled spark balls flying towards other students. Every time one of them was hit, another one came out of it, until they were flying everywhere in the crowd. McGonagall furiously started mouthing incantations, and some of them dissipated, but more always took their place. The Ravenclaw was embarrassedly rushing through the rest of his speech, his face tomato red.

"And finally," he said, after forty five minutes of talking, "I'd like to conclude this by saying that I thank the students and teachers of Hogwarts for giving me the greatest years of my life, and I hope that you all succeed in whatever you decide to do. Thank you." As he stepped down, he muttered something that contained the words James and git and Potter, and several people started laughing, including James, who just sat there, looking like he won a prize.

Then it was James's turn. He hopped out of the chair and strutted to the podium, planning to freelance, because really, it was kind of crazy that any of the professors expected him to take the time to write a speech.

"Well, here I am, working my ar- uh, butt off, for my N.E.W.T.s, when good old McGonagall comes up and tells me that the captain of the Quidditch team that wins the Cup has to give a speech. I, obviously, have no idea what I'm going to say. I still don't, actually. Really, I think that Davies, in that last little speech he gave, probably ate up any cliché I could have hoped to fall back on." Several people laughed, but if looks could kill, the glare the Head Boy sent him would've dropped him on the spot.

James stared at the audience, fishing for words. He knew that it was his graduation, and joking his way through the whole thing wouldn't exactly work, so he took a deep breath and tried something else.

"As you all can assume, I'm Harry Potter's son. Throughout the years, that's been both a curse and a blessing. There have been times when I've wanted nothing more than to step out from under his shadow, where I wanted people to stop telling me how my O.W.L.s weren't as good as his, or how I should take things more seriously, or how many different ways I was such a disappointment because I wasn't, and never will be my dad.

"Since my first year here, I've done everything to become my own person. Sometimes, I'll admit, my actions may have been extreme, but now, standing here today, I like to think that I've made a name for myself that absolutely no one will confuse with my father's. And really, isn't that's kind of what life is about? Leaving a legacy?

"What people need to figure out, though, what my dad's past experiences have taught me, is that the good legacies, the ones that people want to have, aren't made by copying others, or by doing what the world expects of you. Whether you forge your own destiny by going kamikaze on an evil wizard when you know that people will think you've betrayed them, or if you're remembered as a slightly crazy Quidditch captain with an affinity for dung-bombs, people aren't going to forget about you, and they won't _want_ to forget about you.

"Everything that I've done these past seven years has played a part in creating a string of memories that is hopefully going to stick with this the school for a very long time. It's like that with all of my classmates. Every student in this school has already started writing their own legacy, and now, we've got the chance to continue with our stories, to make them bigger than just Hogwarts. And doesn't that just make you feel _brilliant?_"

"Alright, it's been about six minutes, and you're probably all dead-bored from that last speech, so I'll let you go. But, really, don't sit around with your head up your arse and wait for someone to write your life for you. If you ask anyone in my family, they'll all say that if you want to be great, you have to take the stage and prove it... Well, I've run myself dry. Now, please don't cry, but I'm gonna to turn you over to Little Miss Head Git over here. Don't worry, though—you'll be hearing from me again real soon."

Then he took his place next to McGonagall, who'd started looking through the fiercely cheering, now very awake crowd warily.

"What did you do Potter?" she hissed. He smiled innocently and shrugged.

"Nothing big."

"It's a pleasure to be here to…BELCH." Her sentence got cut off in an enormous burp. Cheeks flaming, she cleared her throat. "My apologies, I appear to have… BELCH."

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall hissed, her look making him very glad that he would not be returning next year.

"She should know better not to take drinks from me," he said. She glared at him.

"Fix it." He jumped out of his chair and took his place beside the flustered Head Girl.

"Sorry, sorry, slight beverage malfunction. I should have this fixed in a moment," he said loudly, then looked at the girl, who was glaring at him.

"BELCH. Ugh, Potter…" she growled.

"Next time, think before making me announce to the whole world that I have a crush on McGonagall." He grinned when the words were amplified, but ignored the laughs and murmurs and put a light pressure on her throat, murmuring a counter spell. She coughed for a moment, then looked at him cautiously.

"Is it better?"

"Should be. If not, I really have no idea what to do. That was kind of privately developed, and you were one of our first test subjects, so…" The words boomed for all to hear. The crowd was beside themselves with laughter.

"On graduation day, really?"

"Oh, don't worry, I've already humiliated myself much further than you will today, you know, with that McGonagall comment. If you want, I've got more though. What were some of those passwords…." He stopped and turned to the crowd. "If you're interested, I'm a hottie, I'm transsexual, uh, I wear thongs, there's more, just let me think-"

"Mister Potter!" The crowd was laughing uncontrollably, and if it had been anyone else, he probably would have been embarrassed. It was a good thing James probably hadn't blushed in his life. He was, however, utterly terrified by the look on his mother's face.

"Well, that's enough. If you're interested in knowing, I'm not actually serious about any of those things that I just said… well, it's a long story…"

"Mister Potter!"

"I'm coming. Good glory, I was just backing up my speech. You know, showing them how to make a legacy that future generations will never forget." The crowd started laughing even more as he took his seat

The Head Girl's speech finished without another belch, and then McGonagall stepped forward and concluded the ceremony. The second that she uttered her final words, James looked at Fred and they both nodded their heads.

"Incendio," James muttered, concentrating on a certain fuse that was hidden not a hundred yards away from where the ceremony was taking place.

Suddenly, a loud crackling noise filled the air. First, blazing red outlines of Quidditch players started zooming around, getting as close to people as possible, then soaring high above the crowds. They were quickly followed by sparkling outlines of the four house mascots, the biggest of which was a lion, who eventually ended up with the snake's crackling green tail in its mouth. While they were fighting, more images popped up, from the names of every single student in the school, to simple sparks, to incredibly realistic magical creatures. The entire air was filled with lights and the images that James and Fred had so quickly edited only an hour before.

More and more whiz-bangs continued to explode, going on for almost ten minutes straight. Even after they all went off, the pictures continued to zoom around and fight, much to the pleasure of the gasping crowd. Families pointed out the names of the graduating class as their witch's or wizard's flashed above them.

Nearly a half an hour after it all started, the outlines all faded, and the final names finished appearing in the sky. James flicked his wand one more time, and the last whiz-bangs went off, reading, "Courtesy of James S. Potter and Fred R. Weasley, Hogwarts Class of 2024".

With more cheering and whistling, the graduates threw their hats into the air before dispersing to spend the rest of the day with their families.

"That was brilliant," George congratulated Fred as soon as they were in sight. "Your uncle would've been so proud. Hell, I'm so proud. That almost beat my own exit from the school, and you even finished your seventh year."

Harry, on the other hand, wasn't quite so openly pleased. James gave him an 'It wasn't that bad' look when it appeared that he was going to start a lecture, but Harry was cut off by a flash of chocolate colored hair and sparkling white teeth.

"That was so amazing!" Roxanne cried, jumping on him and throwing her arms around his neck. He grabbed onto her reflexively.

"Uh, thanks, Roxy," he said, trying to peel her off of him as gently as he could, without actually throwing her to the ground.

"Roxanne, James needs to breathe," George said, then thankfully hurried to extract her. James mouthed a quick thank you towards him, then turned in worry to look for his mum. His eyes rested on Sierra first.

"That was the best graduation ceremony ever," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to kiss him. He sighed contentedly, wrapping his arms around her waist and gently deepening the kiss…

"Sierra, James needs to breathe," Roxanna interrupted, using the exact same voice that her father had.

"I'm doing the job just fine for her, thank you," he said briefly, then leaned down again. Another, much more frightening voice interrupted him.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" He sighed and gave Sierra an apologetic look before turning to face the wrath of one angry Ginny Potter.

"What? Those fireworks were cool, nothing bad at all. And my speech was very nice, I think." She glared at him.

"And in between?"

"Well, if you heard the story about this Head Girl. You see, last year, I may have dyed her hair an unflattering color, and this entire year, she's been making the passwords for the common room completely humiliating, I named most of them up on stage. And I'd have to say those, out loud! So, it was just payback."

"Then you should have fed her a puking pastille, or something sometime during the year, not when everyone could see and hear you!"

"Honey, he's too much of a Weasley. He likes having an audience," his father tried, giving her a weak smile.

"TOO MUCH OF A WEASLEY!"

"You lot have always been just a small bit melodramatic," he tried again, giving her an 'I'm innocent' smile that rivaled James's own.

"I'm warning you," she growled.

"Mum, please. It's graduation day. Later?"

She sighed, but smiled at James, ruffling his hair."Fine, later. I am proud of you, that was a wonderful speech you made, and the fireworks, I will admit, weren't that bad." He threw his arms around her neck.

"Thank you." Then he hugged his father as well, holding on for an extra second before he pulled away. "You know that even if I don't want to be exactly like you, I still think that you're one of the greatest men to ever walk this earth, right?"

His father actually blushed.

"I don't think-"

"Just accept it, because it's the last time I'll say anything half so sappy." Harry Potter laughed, then hugged his son one more time.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me, but you're a better person than I could ever be."

"I don't think-"

"You have a nonexistent temper, I've never seen you with a real grudge, and you can make hundreds of people laugh without trying. I think everyone in Hogwarts must have looked up to you." James took a somewhat shaky breath.

"Dad, those things are all great, but I think I've pissed off as many people as I've made laugh," he said, joking to steer the conversation to an end. He didn't like being overly emotional, and he still had to greet the rest of his family anyway.

"I wouldn't be too surprised," Harry relented, thankfully recognizing where James was going. After giving him one more smile, James went back to accepting hugs and handshakes, making small comments to his enormous family, and everyone else who came to congratulate him. It made for a horribly long day, but when he was done, it seemed like it was all well worth it.

The actual graduation party wasn't until the next day, so the night after they'd returned to their respective homes, he and Sierra found themselves walking around the outskirts of Hogwarts. In only a few hours, she would be on her way back to Ottery St. Catchpole, while James and Fred went to Bulgaria to train with the former Quidditch star, Viktor Krum. It was only for two weeks, and then the two of them would return to spend time with their family for the rest of the summer before official practices started, but to him, it felt like a lifetime.

"I'm worried," Sierra admitted to him as they walked.

"About what?" he asked softly, although he had a pretty good idea.

"About you going off to become a Quidditch star and forgetting I exist. About what school will be like without you and Fred. About what _life_ will be like without you and Fred."

He sighed, stopped and putting his hands on her shoulders. "You know that I'm not going to forget about you, don't you?"

She smiled sadly."I like to think that."

"Well, keep thinking it, because it's true. I love you, Sierra Scamander, and making a living by hitting a heavy ball at a few dunderheads isn't going to change that."

She stopped and stared at him, and he realized that it was the time that he'd ever said he loved her, although at that moment, with the moonlight shining on her hair, her shining silver eyes looking at him like he was her world, he knew that it was true. It had been true since he'd met her. He just hadn't realized it.

"And Sierra?" he asked, staring into her sparkling eyes. "We're living in Hogsmeade, and you know about that one-eyed witch statue as well as I do. If you ever want to see me, just owl me, and I'll meet you in the tunnel. Hell, if you want, I'll sneak into the school for you."

"You really won't leave," she said, as a statement, not a question, like she was sure of it.

"Nope, I'm not planning on it."

"Well, then, James Potter. I think I just might love you too."

Then she stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him, and James pulled her close to him, wondering how he'd managed to deserve someone so perfect.

* * *

**Epilogue**

"Aw, shit, Rose, what'd you bring him for?" James complained when he walked onto Platform 9 ¾. His cousin glared at him, as did Draco Malfoy II. James put a hand on Sirius's shoulder, giving him the most strict look he could manage.

"If it's blonde, moves, and has the last name Malfoy, what is it?" James asked seriously. Sirius looked up at him with his mother's silver eyes.

"The enemy."

"Don't listen to your father," Sierra said quickly, rushing through the barrier with a small girl with glistening blonde hair trailing behind her. Green eyes smiled as the girl ran over to Rose and Draco, giving them both huge hugs.

"You're fraternizing with the enemy!" Sirius cried to his sister. She looked at him and ruffled his messy hair.

"You love your cousin, and you know it," Ariana said, accompanying her words with her father's smile.

"We do not love each other," Draco said darkly.

"Yeah, but Ariana loves _him_," Sirius teased. James turned and sighed when he saw the spawn of Michelle Zabini walking towards them. His dark eyes were searching for someone in the crowd, and they lit up when they rested on Ariana.

"Anna," James warned his daughter. "If you even think about it…"

"Dylan!" she shouted, and took off in a run towards him, throwing her arms around her neck.

"Gross, that's just gross," Sirius commented. James looked at his son sadly.

"It truly is. I'm sorry that you have to see this," he commented. When he turned back to Ariana and Dylan, they were locking lips. "Oh, not in public, sweetie. We don't want to be associated with those people!"

Sierra put a hand on his arm and gave him a warning look.

"James," she warned. "Let her be. Once she finally meets his mother, she'll realize that there are better fish in the sea." James laughed, beaming at his wife.

"You're kind of perfect. Do you know that?"

"No spewy lovey garbage or I'm going to hex you," an all too familiar voice shouted.

"Hey, Lils," James called, jogging over to see his sister. She had a baby boy resting on her hip. A very scared fire-haired girl was clinging desperately to her husband's legs.

"What's with her?" James asked, jerking his head towards a shaking Maddie Scamander.

"There is nothing _with _me," Maddie said, raising her head defiantly, but her eyes were still scared.

"Come on, Mads, you look like a gulping plimply out of water."

She gave him a blank look."Oh, really, you can't tell me that you don't know what a-"

"James, she's just scared," Lorcan interrupted.

"Of what?"

"Of being in Slytherin," Lily whispered.

"Oh, Al was scared too, but look, he got sorted into that house and became an ugly, pathetic, sick snake. He was happy though, so don't worry. That's what really matters."

"But you and Lily disowned him," she cried. James laughed.

"Yeah, and I'll disown you as well. Sirius, too, if he gets stuck in there." She gaped at him.

"But-"

"I'm _kidding. _I promise that it really doesn't matter to any of us. I mean, look at little Draco. You know him, and-"

"But I want to be a Gryffindor!"

"Then you will be. The Hat listens to what you have to say, y'know."

"Really?"

"Uh, maybe a little. You know, now that I think about it, that _could _be a rumor…"

Lorcan glared, and James smiled innocently as walked away from them and back towards his wife. She grinned up at him, just as beautiful as she was when they first met, and he loved her even more than he ever thought possible. Looking at her, at his family, he realized that the legacy he'd written for himself was nothing compared to the people who'd added their own wonderful parts to his story.

~THE END~


End file.
